Health chiefs in Swansea have said they will consider moving some patients from the city’s most under-pressure hospital this winter to wards which are lying empty at another, in order to free up much-needed beds.
These would be patients who were medically fit for discharge, not acutely unwell ones – but there could still be a major challenge finding staff to care for them.
Swansea Bay University Health Board declared a so-called business continuity incident, also known as a black alert – triggered only in exceptional circumstances – at Morriston Hospital on November 29 because of extreme unscheduled care pressures. More than 80 acutely unwell people were waiting for hospital beds. It said everything possible was being done to discharge patients who no longer needed acute medical care so that very ill patients could be admitted.
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