This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Bed closures due to norovirus increasing in NHS
New analysis has indicated that the number of hospital beds taken out of service due to norovirus outbreaks has reached its highest level in five years.
The figures show that nearly 75,000 beds in NHS hospitals in England have been closed due to norovirus and diarrhoea and vomiting-like symptoms over the recent winter period. According to the figures, on the single worst-affected day, over 1,200 beds had to be taken out of service. This is the equivalent of two entire hospitals being closed.
Having fewer beds available for patients leaves hospitals, who are already struggling with demand, far less likely to meet the government’s target of 95 per cent of patients attending A&E being seen within four hours.
Janet Davies, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Nursing staff work extremely hard to prevent the norovirus infection spreading. But with so many beds being lost to the illness this winter, bed stocks are reaching unsustainably low levels. When the health service is under the extra pressure of winter, the loss of even a few hundred beds a day can have severe consequences for hospitals.”
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