A NEW unit is to be opened in Hull to stop elderly patients being transferred between hospitals in the middle of the night.
The acute frailty unit will care for elderly people who are taken to Hull Royal Infirmary instead of them having to wait hours in the hospital's emergency department as part of a plan to cope with increased demand over the winter.
Hull Royal's new A&E department is due to open by December and additional staff will work in acute medical care, with twice as many consultants working at night to speed up waiting times.
Consultants specialising in the care of the elderly and in chest conditions, the two largest groups of patients attending A&E, will now be based at Hull Royal and elderly care will be shifted from Castle Hill Hospital, in Cottingham, to the city.
Outlining the plans, Professor Ian Philp told Hull City Council he was determined the hospitals would be better equipped to deal with the pressures of winter, which have previously led to overcrowding, long waiting times and bed shortages.
Prof Philp, chief medical officer of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "For me, it is an absolute matter of honour to make sure we do something better for patients this winter."
In previous years, the hospital has struggled to cope with the sheer volume of patients turning up at A&E over the winter.
Bed shortages have resulted in patients being transferred between Hull Royal and Castle Hill Hospital, often in the middle of the night and often more than once.
Patients have been put wherever a bed can be found for them, often resulting in elderly patients being placed in other wards.
At a meeting of Hull's Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny and Overview Commission, Prof Philp admitted the hospital had fallen short of the standard expected in patient care.
He said: "If you have a medical emergency and come to our emergency department, at times of pressure it can be a difficult experience.
"Our performance in the four-hour waiting time is very poor.
"We have had pressures of space, pressures on the staff and pressures to do with the flow through the hospital before people are admitted. We are not alone in the country in experiencing difficulty."
Elderly care will now be transferred from Castle Hill Hospital to Hull Royal, where the frailty unit will be based.
Prof Philp said he was confident the new plan would make a "huge difference" to patient care.
He said: "We do run with a measure of optimism to generate the belief that we can do it. We are not going into winter with our fingers crossed, hoping for the best."
City councillor Danny Brown, who chairs the commission, has called on Prof Philp to return in six months to discuss how the winter plan worked.
He said: "I can honestly say I'm more confident than I have been in the past."
