North West hospitals put on highest level of alert during winter

Hospitals in the North West region were placed on high alert 32 times through the 2017-18 winter.

All 32 alerts were recorded in the Cheshire and Merseyside area.

The Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (Opel) system measures the extent of the pressure on hospitals.

The highest level of pressure is known as "Opel 4"  meaning "a potential for patient safety to be compromised" and the organisation is "unable to deliver comprehensive care."

In 2016-17, there were only two "Opel 4" recordings, marking a sharp increase in the pressure exerted on the NHS. 

There has also been a 418% increase in the number of "Opel 3" alerts from 206 in 2016-17 to 1,067 in 2017-18.

"Opel 3" indicates that "there is major pressure compromising patient flow and continues to increase".

NHS England states that "prolonged bad weather" and "a rise in severity of illness" has caused the increase of high alerts over winter. 

Marion Nash, form Lancashire who waited five hours in Blackpool Victoria's A&E said:

It was "absolute chaos" and there were "no beds, people just in corridors".

Staff were "absolutely run off their feet", but it was not their fault as "there just isn't enough staff and not enough beds".

Director of Operations and Performance at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust said the "whole health system is struggling."

There is "an issue around actually filling primary care vacancies" in the area, which "puts that additional demand on the GPs".

BBC North West health correspondent Gill Dummigan suggests that the A&E departments act as barometer which measures pressure levels for the NHS as a whole.

The increasing ageing population also means we need more healthcare for the elderly, and when they are ready to come out of hospital there is often a lack of aftercare in the community.

Therefore, there are fewer vacant beds on wards ,so A&E beds continue to be occupied, slowing down the process of patients in and out of hospitals.

So, until we find a more effective way of dealing with the health issues of the elderly, future crisis with A&E departments will continue to occur.  

A spokesman for NHS England said the region's hospitals were "under significant pressure" and "acted promptly to help free up beds".