WHH boss on new hospital, winter pressures, and brilliant staff

A new hospital would ease some of the current pressures that the Lovely Lane site currently faces, including within the emergency department (A&E).

Currently, around 238 patients are attending Warrington Hospital’s A&E each day.

Chief executive of Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Simon Constable said: “Our emergency department is too small for not only the number of patients we see in a day, but also the type of patients that are now being looked after in hospital.

“It is a bit like a rabbit warren in our emergency department, there are lots of corridors, we need some bigger spaces.

“It was designed more than 20 years ago for a type of patient that was common then, but now we see much more complex patients, so we need spaces that can be opened to different types of patients, and that is just the start of it.”

Talking of other differences a new hospital could make, Professor Constable mentioned how bigger, more modern wards are needed, as well as single bedrooms with ensuites.

He also mentioned the current ‘significant backlog maintenance’ due to the site being home to a number of old Victorian buildings – providing an economic case.

But despite the town’s bid for funding being snubbed, the trust is doing what it can to serve the community, such as providing as many services that don’t need to physically be in the hospital building as it can.

Examples of this can be seen in the new Living Well Hub on Horsemarket Street in the town centre as well as the new Community Diagnostic Centre in Runcorn Shopping City.

“We are rationalising what needs to actually be on a hospital site, versus what it is absolutely critical and needs to be here, such as the emergency department and critical care,” Professor Constable added.

“But there are other services that we can provide in different ways elsewhere.

“The case for a new hospital for Warrington and a redevelopment over at Halton is still as strong as it ever was, and we continue to make that case.

“We remain in dialogue with anyone that listens around the NHS and the Department of Health.

“It was always going to be a long process, but if we don’t talk about it now, who will?”

There have also been a lot of positive additions and changes to the hospital recently following millions of pounds of investment, including the same day emergency care centre, a new CT scanner in the emergency department, and the new maternity triage.

“You can do things without having a brand new hospital, we are making the most out of what we have got,” Professor Constable said.

“There is no getting away from the fact that it would be lovely to do it all in one go, but that is just not the reality of the situation, so in the meantime we need to continue to invest in the right things to keep us going and to improve services and access to services.”  

The pressures faced by Warrington Hospital are around the same levels as this time last year. And although they are often referred to as ‘winter pressures’, Professor Constable said it is not just winter pressures anymore, it is ‘pretty much continuous’. And this applies to all kinds of health services up and down the country, not just Warrington Hospital.

Although the hospital’s emergency department appears to be hit the hardest to outsiders, this has a ‘knock-on effect’ throughout the hospital and is felt by all teams working at the site.

But the hospital is doing what it can to ease these pressures, such as streaming patients to the right place when they come to it in an emergency, and making use of its same day emergency care facility, as well as its frailty unit.

It is also working on things such as delayed discharges, making sure that nobody stays in hospital longer than they need to.

Currently, the site is one of the best hospitals in the region for ambulance handovers. This means that ambulance crews can get straight back onto the road and attend other calls, rather than waiting at the hospital.

Professor Constable noted the brilliant effort of the staff at the trust who he described as ‘remarkably resilient’.

“They rise to the challenge,” he said.

“I said that during Covid and I say it now, one challenge after another, they just pull together as a team.

“Modern healthcare in the 21st century is a team effort, it is not contingent upon just one profession.

“We need to work together, and they just do so with remarkable resilience, bouncing back after every challenge that is thrown at them.

“They work hard and they don’t forget why we are here.”