Concern over hospital figures

DUP Cllr Philip Weir has called on the hospitals to be as efficient as possible and has written to the Southern Health and Social Care Trust seeking an explanation of the figures.

The Trust in turn has said the figures provided are inaccurate..

He said: “Figures from DHSSPS show that last year Craigavon Area Hospital had the second lowest bed occupancy rate for an acute hospital at 73%. The Daisy Hill Hospital figure of 74% was the next lowest. These are much lower percentages than the Mater Hospital for example (87%) and the Ulster and Royal Victoria Hospitals (both 86%).

“I am keen to know if there has been a concerted effort to keep the occupancy rates low in the Southern Trust or whether there are other factors which would lead to our hospitals having lower levels.

"I would expect Craigavon, the Mater and Ulster Hospitals to be offering a similar profile of services and thus similar occupancy rates. Are there empty wards, for instance, which are being included and impacting on the statistics?

“While too high an occupancy rate can be problematic and lead to more patients acquiring hospital infections, the variations between hospitals are quite significant and such differences should be investigated. It is crucial, particularly in the current financial climate, that all aspects of our health service and the entire public sector are as lean and efficient as possible."

He added: “In recent years studies have shown occupancy rates across England to be close to 85%, and 81% in Wales. It is worth pointing out that the Southern Trust has succeeded, better than some of its counterparts, in regularly finding efficiencies and meeting the numerous targets set centrally by the Department.”

A spokesperson for the Trust said the figures provided were inaccurate.

The spokesperson said: “We have been working to transform and modernise a number of hospital based services and systems, including increasing rates of day surgery, admitting patients on the day of surgery and timely discharge arrangements.

"These changes have resulted in a reduction in the number of beds on acute hospital sites at both Craigavon and Newry. Unfortunately these bed reductions were not accurately reflected in the information provided to the Department, resulting in lower bed occupancy rates being reported. The revised bed numbers will be shown in the 2010 figures.”