A retired marketing consultant fears the NHS in North Wales will battle to deal with rising flu instances as a consequence of an absence of group beds
The NHS in North Wales may very well be pushed past breaking level if a surge in so-called “tremendous flu” instances continues, a former marketing consultant has warned, citing a important scarcity of group beds.
Jonathan Osborne, a retired ear, nostril and throat surgeon at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, is main the Fb BEDS marketing campaign calling for an “finish to hall care” in North Wales A&E departments.
He says Betsi Cadwaladr College Well being Board (BCUHB) is ill-prepared to deal with rising demand as flu season intensifies, elevating critical considerations about affected person security.
His warnings have been backed by Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders, who has known as for an inquiry after a freedom of data request revealed that 1,027 folks died whereas ready for therapy in North Wales A&E departments over a two-year interval.
The warning comes as flu instances surge throughout the UK, with well being secretary Wes Streeting describing the numbers as “huge” and “unprecedented”.
Though Public Well being Wales studies that flu ranges are at present at medium, the organisation has cautioned that the “pattern” is “growing”, with specialists anticipating a winter spike.
The area’s well being board is now urging folks to put on masks in “all medical areas” throughout its hospitals.
Mr Osborne reached out to the Native Democracy Reporting Service to voice his considerations that A&E departments would discover it difficult to manage, with “sufferers dying in corridors ready for a mattress”.
He mentioned: “Why do we discover ourselves on this place? The political mantra for the previous 20 years has been that old-style group hospital provision is outdated and that, with fashionable medication, sufferers may be handled in their very own properties.
“Well being boards have pushed the coverage of closing down group beds to attain synthetic financial savings. The issue with that is that when sufferers are nicely sufficient to go away the hospital however not nicely sufficient to go residence, they nonetheless want someplace to go.
“It’s clear to most of us that whereas just a few sufferers may be monitored at residence, in the actual world, recovering sufferers want nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational remedy to regain their independence”.
“Offering this at residence can be impractical and vastly costly. Probably the most cost-effective and sensible answer is a group hospital near residence.”
Again in September, BCUHB’s chairman admitted that emergency care throughout North Wales was “in disaster”. Keep knowledgeable on the newest well being information by signing as much as our e-newsletter right here
A month later, a BCUHB board report revealed that “overcrowding” in emergency departments was “having a considerably detrimental influence” on the NHS’s capacity to “present protected care”.
Mr Osborne mentioned: “Most senior docs and nurses would help this answer to relieving the strain on A&E; nonetheless, the politicians behind this twenty plus years of coverage are having issue going through in the present day’s actuality: the technique has failed and A&E is in disaster.
“As an alternative, they repeat the dogma that sufferers want to be handled in their very own properties, whereas ignoring the fact that councils haven’t any sources to do that, and that ‘hospital at residence’ for each affected person isn’t throughout the finances. Dissent isn’t tolerated. Even from these on the high.
“Actuality will overwhelm rhetoric and the technique should be revised. However the delay in admitting that the coverage has not labored is costing lives.
“We have to push for the federal government and the well being board to alter tack and rethink their strategy earlier than many extra family members’ lives are misplaced. The state of affairs in North Wales can’t be allowed to proceed.”
Discussing the current Freedom of Info request she submitted to the Senedd, Mrs Finch-Saunders revealed: “Within the 24 months main as much as 30 September 2025, 297 sufferers died in Ysbyty Gwynedd whereas ready for therapy in A&E, 385 sufferers in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, and 345 in Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
“Questions have to be requested concerning the position that lengthy ready instances are having on these statistics. Even in my very own constituency, I’ve heard from residents that some who want to hunt medical therapy decline going to hospital because of these lengthy waits.”
She continued: “I agree with what Mr Osborne has said. It’s a reality, following a variety of FOI responses from the well being board, that the numbers of individuals dying in A&E departments and ready in ambulances is unacceptable. The factors he makes concerning the tremendous flu that’s in circulation can also be an accurate assumption. This has the potential to extend the numbers of deaths that we’re seeing.”
She added: “I have been elected as a Member of Welsh Parliament for 14 and a half years, and the issues in Betsi with particular measures have been round for about 10 years of that 14 years.
“Whereas some enhancements are being made, the elemental flaws within the Betsi board proceed.”
The well being board selected not to reply to the allegations.
Beforehand, Angela Wooden, the well being board’s government director of nursing and midwifery, said: “We’ve got seen a rise within the variety of instances of flu and different winter viruses in current days and at the moment are introducing face masks in all medical areas of our hospitals to assist scale back the potential for sicknesses to be handed on.
“We don’t take this step frivolously. We all know that carrying masks may be uncomfortable for our sufferers, their households, and our employees – however consider it’s essential to introduce this measure now to assist us mitigate the danger of outbreaks of doubtless critical sickness.”
She additional mentioned: “It’s important that folks in North Wales proceed to help us by following easy recommendation, which is able to assist to maintain weak sufferers in our hospitals safer this winter.”
