Top doctors at the new Royal Liverpool Hospital have told their bosses that they are "ashamed" of the "dreadful conditions" in the "chaotic" emergency department of the new facility.
The new Royal finally opened in October after years of delays and problems. The move has coincided with a huge crisis in emergency care, with hospitals across the country finding themselves overwhelmed. But a letter signed by 31 medics - including the hospital's clinical director for acute and emergency care and the department's clinical lead - said the move to a hospital with fewer beds “without any workable contingency plans, [was] frankly inconceivable."
The letter was leaked to Health Service Journal and dated November 8.
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The old Royal hospital had around 685 beds compared to just 640 in the new site when it opened in October. Since then further beds have been created at Broadgreen Hospital and in the community but the overall number has still not reached the previous total.
The hard-hitting letter described the new Royal's Accident and Emergency department as "overcrowded, chaotic and unpleasant" with an "unacceptable and unsafe" reliance on corridor care. Judging on recent accounts this situation is likely to have got worse since the letter was sent.
The letter states: “The need to utilise the waiting room and X-ray waiting area chairs to house patients awaiting admission is completely unacceptable. Frequently, patients are waiting for over 24 hours in these conditions. We are embarrassed, ashamed and demoralised by the standard of care we are able to provide.
“We are also seriously concerned about the effect the environment is having on all ED staff. Since we have moved into the new building, we are all equally mortified by the steep decline in care standards. We see nursing staff in tears daily."
The medics said the single most important cause of the issues were the "exit block from the Emergency Department", which they accepted is a national problem. But they added: "To be fully aware of this issue and still insist on moving into a hospital with a smaller bed base, seemingly without any workable contingency plans, is frankly inconceivable."
They added: "Despite our protestations, the risk to patient safety created by your failing trust and hospital, is being concentrated on the ED and the patients and staff within it. The patients are receiving unacceptable care in dreadful conditions… We need real solutions, not expressions of sympathy and promises to make positive changes which never materialise.”
In October, shortly after the move to the new hospital was complete, the ECHO reported on scenes of "carnage" as ambulances queued outside the new facility with patients
In a response to the letter, also reported by HSJ, the Trust's chief medical officer Jim Gardner said executives had met with the doctors to listen to the concerns, adding: “Whilst we have made positive progress since then, we completely recognise that there is still much more to be done to support the team. We are continuing to work with them.
He added: “Since moving into the new Royal there are more general and acute beds across the trust (it also runs Aintree Hospital in north Liverpool).” He suggested the pressures on the Royal, and reasons for them, are “identical to those faced by hospitals across the country”.
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