Trust Faces Seasonal Bed Pressures

The Trust regularly monitors the cleanliness of wards, patient equipment, antibiotic prescribing, hand hygiene compliance and initiates an ongoing programme of deep cleans in wards as part of its strategy to ensure a sustained reduction in Clostridium Difficile infection. These measures also help to reduce outbreaks of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by norovirus. However it is much more difficult to sustain improvement when there is a lot of infection in hospital. Due to the above factors, the Trust has experienced significant increases in bed pressures. This has resulted in some patients experiencing a delay in receiving a bed in a hospital ward. The Trust has been working with the Health & Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency to address these difficulties and is currently opening additional beds to deal with the high numbers of in-patient admissions. “The Trust needs the support of patients/clients/carers and the public who may visit our hospitals. We would ask that individuals visiting patients in our facilities should avoid doing so if they have vomiting and diarrhoea, cold or flu symptoms. Members of the public who are attending our Accident and Emergency Departments should advise the staff on arrival if they have gastrointestinal symptoms. This is extremely important to ensure that any condition considered to be of an infectious nature is identified and managed promptly. The Trust would ask that all visitors adhere to the following principles when visiting a relative or friends in our healthcare facilities to help minimise the risk of infection”. Please do: * Check with the nurse in charge before you visit to ensure that you follow any precautions that may be in place *  Clean your hands before and after visiting the area *  Limit the number of visitors to a maximum of 2 per bed at any one time (cultural preferences and requirements will be taken into consideration when agreeing visiting arrangements for families and carers). *  Ensure that children visiting are supervised by an adult. We recommend that babies and young children should not visit Please do not: *  Sit on beds; ask a member of staff for a chair if there is none available *  Visit if you or any accompanying adult or child has any infection. Coughs, colds, flu like symptoms, vomiting, diarrhoea or chicken pox are some examples. *  Visit until free from symptoms, as you may still be infectious. If in doubt, contact the ward/department for advice *  Bring in perishable food and drink for patients. “Any visitor/relative or carer who has difficulty complying with the advice above should speak with the nurse or person in charge. Special circumstances will be taken into consideration. The Trust would like to thank everyone for their co-operation during this period.”]]>