BEDS at a Suffolk community hospital have had to be reopened to ease overcrowding at Ipswich Hospital.The beds at Aldeburgh and District Community Hospital had been unused since September and they are now occupied mainly by patients who are waiting for nursing or residential care.
BEDS at a Suffolk community hospital have had to be reopened to ease overcrowding at Ipswich Hospital.
The beds at Aldeburgh and District Community Hospital had been unused since September and they are now occupied mainly by patients who are waiting for nursing or residential care.
Last year, the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) reduced the number of NHS commissioned beds at the site to 20 and said they would look for an alternative commissioner for 12 beds. However, beds that had been paid for by fundraisers were left empty and had to be put away.
A spokeswoman for Suffolk PCT said: “We are helping each other out and these beds have been opened to relieve pressure on acute beds at Ipswich Hospital.
“They are open for about four weeks and run by bank and agency staff. They are not for acute patients, they are for people who require assessment before going home.”
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