NHS Ayrshire & Arran to cut number of hospital beds

dailyrecord.co.uk:

NHS Ayrshire and Arran will need to cut the number of the hospital beds it brought in during the pandemic, according to a new report.Chief Executive Claire Burden said the move was part of a rebalance of care, with the aim of getting the 'right' number of facilities in communities to reduce the pressure on hospitals.A report on NHS Ayrshire and Arran's financial position stated that there had been a huge rise in the number of staff and hospital beds during the pandemic, with covid funding coming from the Scottish Government.The Ayrshire and Arran Health Board report stated: "The trend of increasing staff over the pandemic years requires to be reversed in 2023 as there is not recurring funding to support this level of staffing."This will require beds in acute hospitals to close."However, Ms Burden said that reducing the number of beds was not a reduction in service.She said that the priority was now about getting the right balance between acute hospital bed-based care, and community care.The driver of much of the delayed hospital discharges impacting acute services has been a lack of suitable community care.Ms Burden said that getting the right 'place based' care would help reduce the pressure on hospitals, where there are not enough staff to cover the number of beds.Describing the situation as 'complex' she said: "If it were a simple conundrum it would have already been delivered."She added that the three Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnerships were working closely with the NHS to 'have the right number of acute beds and the right number of community and social care beds'."We want to move away from the currency of bed-based care, into a currency of place based care in that, if you can get the right interventions and