Chair of health board hears firsthand how winter pressures were dealt with

The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board has visited Hull Royal Infirmary to talk to staff about the winter challenges of the NHS and the way hospital discharges were managed.

Chairman Councillor Jonathan Owen spoke to Ellen Ryabov, the hospital’s chief operating officer, and Scott Rayner, hospital social care team manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, about their experiences during the worst time of the year.

Scott said: “The number of frail elderly patients with more complex needs presenting at the hospital this winter has led to an unprecedented demand for social care services and placed the health and social care system under incredible pressure.

“Despite this, our strong working relationship with the Trust has seen a record number of patients discharged in this period.”

Also in attendance during the visit was John Skidmore, the council’s director of corporate strategy and commissioning and together with Councillor Owen they listened to how this year’s winter plans had been different to the previous year and what the outcomes were.

Scott added: “Planning for winter started early in the year, and the initiatives put in place enabled us to achieve the targets given to us by NHS England.

“The social workers have responded to the relentless pressure positively and their commitment and motivation is a credit to the social work profession.

“The support given by Councillor Owen and John Skidmore at their visit was well received by the team and gave them a much needed boost.”

Councillor Jonathan Owen, said: “We heard how the council has built a very strong working relationship with the hospital team and that everyone worked superbly well together to support hospital discharges and, in doing so, supporting East Riding residents.

“The number of people the hospital social care team have supported so far this year has increased yet again and the teams managed together to reduce delays across the health network to support residents back out of hospital.”

John Skidmore, said: “The excellent work of all Health and Social Care Partners working together covering the East Riding was talked about and celebrated.

“We also heard about some new initiatives that had been introduced and how these were making a positive difference for our residents.”