NHS managers in the Midlands have put out an urgent call for GPs to go in to their local hospital to help discharge patients early and take over their medical care, in a desperate measure to free up beds, Pulse has learned.
The call was put out by NHS North Lincolnshire CCG managers frantically trying to deal with pressure on Scunthorpe General Hospital, which they said is ‘facing unprecedented demand’ on services, with patients ‘experiencing extremely long A&E waits’.
GP leaders said the move was ‘incredible’ and warned that GP practices were themselves overwhelmed and did not have the capacity to step in.
The CCG emailed practices this week asking them to confirm ‘whether a member of the senior clinical team could be mobilised to attend the hospital to review and potentially support the discharge of a small number of patients’.
It continued: ‘These patients will require medical oversight and support in the community which will need to be provided by their own practice.’
The CCG said it was ‘also looking at whether we can discharge patients to additionally commissioned community beds and we will be looking to secure enhanced GP and nursing cover for those beds’ and that ‘we will approach practices separately regarding this when available beds have been identified’.
Full story in Pulse 12 January 2017