New initiatives help beat winter bed shortage

There were always enough beds at Wanganui Hospital this winter ? a manager says ? thanks to two new initiatives to keep patients healthy and in their own homes.
"It got tight. There were days from hell but we got through it and didn't have people sitting in corridors and these two projects are clearly the reason for that," medical, rehabilitation, community and rural services manager Louise Oskam said.
She reported to Whanganui District Health Board's hospital advisory committee yesterday on a trial to give intravenous drugs outside hospital and a team giving extra care to patients with complex health problems.
The intravenous (IV) trial saved 140 bed days over a four-month period. The team giving extra care (primary response team) saved 120 bed days in April, a survey showed.
The IV trial was for patients with cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection, and for patients in the country it was delivered by district nurses. In the past, otherwise-healthy patients who were being treated for cellulitis had "blocked" much-needed hospital beds.
Mrs Oskam said many other New Zealand district health boards gave patients IV treatment outside hospital.
MidCentral District Health Board had a particularly successful programme, which Whanganui had followed.
Since the trial had been successful Mrs Oskam proposed to keep it going and extend it, and employ a part-time staff member to co-ordinate it. GPs had been asked if they wanted to do this, but had said they could not.
Patients had loved the opportunity to stay in their homes, she said. They slept better in their own beds, and could carry on working if they were well enough.
The hospital's primary response team, consisting of a range of medical staff, had existed for 18 months and had the goal of arranging services that would keep people with high health needs well enough to stay outside hospital.
The help could range from meals on wheels to attention from Age Concern, and the team did a lot of communication with GPs and the patients' families.
In the past it had been hard to say how successful it was, but an April study had quantified this. In that month there were 180 patients referred to the team, and 120 hospital bed days were saved.
The team's hours had been increased, and were now 8am to 8pm ? handy because people's health often declined in the afternoon.
In future the team was likely to be available on call during the weekends as well.
"I'm really pleased and excited that we can now demonstrate that this team is making a difference," Mrs Oskam said.
Such projects were building blocks toward reducing the number of beds at the hospital, acting general manager Melissa Stott said.