BOSSES at a new hospital forced to suspend in-patient admissions have blamed it on staffing issues and the ageing population.
East Riding Community Hospital has cut its number of beds from 30 to 12 after an unannounced visit from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) identified problems.
The new £20m hospital opened 12 months ago and replaced in-patient care at Beverley's Westwood Hospital, Hornsea Cottage Hospital and Driffield's Alfred Bean Hospital.
A spokesman for East Riding NHS Foundation Trust, which is responsible for in-patient services, said: "Since opening, the hospital provider has had to face the challenges of an increasing proportion of patients and patients with more complex nursing needs.
"This is due to the fact that our population is getting older as well as pressures in the acute hospital system and that more patients are now able to have their treatment closer to their own community."
The CQC inspection, which is yet to be published, identifies issues surrounding staff training and changes required to the building. The trust said it was already dealing with those problems.
But, following the inspection, the trust wrote to GPs telling them not to refer patients to the hospital.
The facility will only be taking patients meeting the admission criteria for transfer from the acute hospital.
The trust spokesman said: "The trust puts the safety of patients in its care and the confidence of their carers at the heart of every decision we take and, therefore, we have taken the decision to temporarily reduce the number of beds available at the East Riding Community Hospital.
"The hospital will return to normal operation as soon as possible, meanwhile there are sufficient beds available across the community hospitals in the East Riding to accommodate patients in need of admission."
Jane Hawkard, chief officer at NHS East Riding of Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which deals with the hospital's budget, said: "The CCG is working closely with Humber Foundation Trust, the organisation that provides the services at the hospital, and other partners to look at how we can ensure that the unit is appropriately fully staffed and working to its capacity of 30 beds as soon as possible.
"We are also working with the provider and partners to ensure the other community facilities in East Yorkshire are able to take their full capacity of patients.
"Where it is appropriate for their treatment and circumstances, patients are being referred to teams working within the community to help minimise the impact of the temporary reduction in beds at East Riding Community Hospital. Therapy resources have been increased in the community to allow this to happen."
