Beds due to reopen at NNUH

By the end of October, three wards will be reopening at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital following  a temporary closure over the summer.

Richard Parker, Chief Operating Officer, said:  “We have been taking advantage of a seasonal low in patients needing medical care to consolidate our staff on to fewer wards and make savings in agency staffing, before we take on 100 extra newly qualified staff in the autumn from the UEA.  These changes have been made possible because of improvements in the Emergency Department performance and tackling delayed discharges and in particular long stays of over 14 days.”

The wards were closed temporarily in August with the plan to reopen in the autumn.  Mr Parker added:  “We have been flexing bed numbers depending on the demand for services and these wards have been used on a number of occasions.  As we move into the autumn, we expect the number of admissions to increase as winter illnesses start to circulate and we will need these wards to be fully operational again.”

The wards affected are Cringleford, Holt and Edgefield with 68 beds closed out of a total of 1200.

There is also a refurbishment underway to turn Mattishall Ward into a decant ward to enable the rolling programme of ward refurbishments to continue. Mattishall was previously a training and escalation area.