Due to increased pressures at the University Hospitals Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), the Trust has taken the decision to escalate to OPEL 4 - the highest level of internal escalation. This allows us to be able to take additional steps to maintain safe services for our patients and help us cope with the growing demands.
Declaring OPEL 4 enables us to bring all our partners in Lancashire and South Cumbria together to focus on one thing - the safe and timely care of all of our patients.
As always, patient safety must take priority and we need to take action to make sure that those who are more clinically urgent get the help they need as quickly as possible.
There are some immediate actions being taken by Trust teams and our partners, including:
- Utilising all alternative options to the Emergency Department (ED) including Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), Surgical Emergency Ambulatory Care (SEAC), Gynaecology Assessment Unit (GAU) and the Priority Assessment Discharge Unit (PADU).
- Community colleagues focussing on admission avoidance activities
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Seeking support from local place-based partners and Integrated Care Board (ICB) systems
What can you do to help?
If you are not contacted directly, please continue to turn up for your appointment. Please also contact the number on your appointment letter if you are no longer able to make your appointment so it can be reallocated to another patient.
Our teams continue to work exceptionally hard; and we would like to reassure our patients and the public that in spite of the challenges faced, essential services
remain fully open for anyone who needs them so if you require urgent medical help, please continue to come forward.
The public can help us manage these periods of demand by ensuring they are seeking help from the most appropriate health services, and only attending A&E for serious accidents and emergencies. If you are unwell, visit NHS 111 online for 24/7 advice about the most appropriate care for your needs.
Scott McLean
Chief Operating Officer
As we announced earlier today, the RLI is currently escalated to OPEL 4 - the highest level of internal escalation - due to the significant and increased pressures.
The safety of our patients and colleagues is vital; and the decision to declare OPEL 4 acknowledges that we were at a point where we cannot continue in the way we are due to the increased risk of harm.
As we head into this evening, these pressures persist. Although our teams have worked incredibly hard and managed to safely discharge some patients home or to a more appropriate setting for their ongoing care, we still have a high number of very sick patients waiting in our Emergency Department (ED) for beds.
Escalating to OPEL 4 allows us to be able to take additional steps to maintain safe services for our patients and help us cope with the significant and growing demand we are facing.
We have the full support of our system partners, and clear actions have been agreed today to support improvements to demand and patient flow. Actions agreed include:
- Working with Local Authority, mental health and the Integrated Care Board colleagues to identify additional capacity to increase the number of safe discharges from hospital
- Teams from North West Ambulance Service focusing on alternatives to bringing patients to the ED where possible, such as urgent treatment centres, etc
- Agreement with primary care colleagues that their urgent and emergency appointments will continue to help reduce attendances and admission to hospital wherever possible and safe to do so
Whilst FGH is not formally triggering OPEL 4, there is an increased demand for services and the site continues to be under significant pressure.
We understand that this feels very different to due to the acuity of the patients we are seeing; but we know that our teams are doing all they can in extremely difficult circumstances to offer them the best possible care. Thank you to all colleagues for their ongoing support.
If you need further support at any time, please speak to your line manager or Care Group leadership team.
We will continue to keep you updated.
Scott McLean
Chief Operating Officer