A memo leaked to the media and reported in The Guardian revealed that patients have had to sleep overnight in the A&E unit of Sunderland Royal Hospital, one of the NHS’s biggest hospitals, because it is overwhelmed by the number of people needing care, a leaked memo reveals.
Sunderland Royal hospital has run out of beds despite it having recently added an extra 50 to its normal stock of 970 beds to help it cope with winter pressures.
Local GPs were sent a message last Friday titled “significant surge within the trust” and asking GPs to only send patients to A&E if there is no alternative. The trust is also trying to buy places in local care homes as another way of freeing up beds and ending the logjam in its A&E.
Full story in The Guardian, 19 January 2020