Helping Ease NHS Winter Pressures
St Catherine’s Hospice is delighted to announce a new initiative to support Surrey patients and improve patient flow from East Surrey Hospital during the busy winter months. From Tuesday 18 November, the hospice has opened three additionally funded beds on a six-month pilot, aimed at speeding up hospital discharges.
This enables St Catherine’s to care for more people in need while helping relieve pressure on the local hospital. These beds will provide compassionate, high quality care for patients who are unable to return home or are awaiting care arrangements to become available. Often frail, remaining in East Surrey Hospital is not the best environment for these local people.
The six-month pilot made possible through health system funding is designed to support hospital discharges and improve patient flow through a programme called ‘Home First’. It reflects a shared commitment across local health partners to ensure people receive the right care in the right place. Whilst temporary, if successful, the hospice hopes this will pave the way for a longer-term solution, creating opportunities to support more patients and families across the local community.
Linda Coffey, Care Services Director at St Catherine’s said:
“This is an exciting step forward in delivering our strategy: combining exceptional care with innovation and, if continued will improve our financial sustainability. By opening these beds, we’re making a real difference – for patients, for families, and by strengthening our partnership with East Surrey Hospital (who we already work with closely), ensuring our resources are more fully utilised.
“Like many hospices across the country, we continue to have empty beds on our hospice wards due to a lack of sustainable government funding. This new initiative is a step in the right direction, and we are doing all we can to find a permanent solution that will enable us to open all our beds for local people who need them.”
To donate to St Catherine’s and help protect the future of hospice care, visit www.stch.org.uk/donate.
