Tough winter period for Colchester University FT

The trust’s finance and commissioning commitee report said: “The Director of Operational Performance informed the Committee of the very difficult period the hospital had endured over the Christmas and New Year period. There had been an increase of 19% in ambulance call outs compared to this time last year and the hospital has 77 contingency beds in use. The hospital dealt with 96 emergencies yesterday, this time last year the figure was 56.

“The Director of Operational Performance stated that the hospital is experiencing an increase of approximately 30% admissions compared with the same period last year but stressed that the nursing staff had coped remarkably well and Service Managers and Consultants had worked a lot of extra hours to help ensure the patient experience was of a high standard.”