Freedom of Information Request: 0569 2019/20
Please could you outline details of all occasions on which your trust closed inpatient beds or wards because there were insufficient staff to work on it, between December 2017 and December 2019?
In each instance please could you confirm the name of the hospital concerned, whether it was a bed bay(s) or a ward(s) which was closed, and how long it/they remained closed for? If it was a ward closure or multiple bed bays on a ward, please clarify how many beds were unable to be used during that period.
There is only one recorded closure of beds at University Hospitals Birmingham, for the reason of staff availability, in the period December 2017 to December 2019. This affected 5 level 3 ITU beds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) in December 2019, running from the 13th December to the 1st January (inclusive).
At the same time as the reduced ITU capacity, the Trust opened additional ward beds across various sites and has been able to maintain enhanced observation beds on general acute wards. Staffing on the ITU, and all inpatient areas, is reviewed constantly and staff redeployed to areas and departments to meet the needs of our patients. Accordingly, access to ITU for emergency admissions has been maintained throughout the period. The period of the closure coincides with reduced elective operating requiring a post-operative ITU stay, as is seen each year over the festive period. During the affected period, the minimum number of patients on the ITU at QEHB was 54, and this was on Christmas Eve. The average number of patients in the QEHB ITU during this period was 58, with the average number of staffed ITU beds available being 60 (figures from the daily situation reports submitted to NHS Improvement).
