Two East Yorkshire hospitals to cancel routine surgery

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust will be launching ‘Operation Wintergreen’ next week to help two of its main hospitals deal with unprecedented pressure this winter.

The operation will see over 8,000 hospital workers support frontline services, which will result in routine surgery and some outpatient clinics to be cancelled for eight days, to free up clinical teams in specialisms including cardiology, rheumatology and respiratory illnesses.

The trust hopes ‘Operation Wintergreen’ will lower bed occupancy at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, which is currently above 95 per cent and well beyond the 85 per cent recommended for optimum patient safety.

Chris Long, trust chief executive, said: “Since the start of the year, we have struggled not only with an increasing number of patients turning up at A&E but also with the complexity and seriousness of their conditions. We are not alone in experiencing increasing and intense levels of pressure this winter and most acute hospitals in England are in identical positions.

“In Hull, we have so far managed to avoid cancelling all non-urgent surgery in the way that many other trusts across the country have been doing since NHS England issued guidance in December. The time has now come, however, for us to take more extensive action and we owe it to our patients and staff to ensure we are there for the people who need us most.

“As things stand, we are not meeting the four-hour A&E standard, many patients are spending too long in hospital without being able to go home when they are ready and our staff are struggling to cope with this unprecedented level of demand. While we do not take the decision to cancel operations and outpatient clinics lightly, we are certain the people we care for will fully understand the pressures our NHS is facing and why we have to take further action at this time. My entire workforce is putting its collective shoulder to the wheel to ensure we make it through the winter and that our patients receive the best and safest care we can deliver.”