In 2023, NHS Shetland undertook a pilot on the surgical ward to reduce the number of beds from 20 to 13, to better reflect the number of patients needing inpatient care. The pilot demonstrated that as a result of opening the new Day Surgical and Ambulatory Care Unit in September 2022, fewer patients required an overnight stay in hospital.
Professor Kathleen Carolan, Director of Nursing and Acute Services said: “With shorter lengths of stay in hospital, the bed occupancy on the surgical ward last year was 55% and this shows the success of being able to provide more treatments and procedures where patients can go home on the same day. By reducing the number of beds overall on the surgical ward, it also gives us more flexible space for patient care (because the surgical ward does not have many single rooms).
“As a result of the sustained reduction in bed occupancy, we have taken the decision to reduce the beds longer term from April 2024 onwards.
Prof Carolan added: “The surgical ward will have the same number of permanent registered nursing staff supporting patients, as they will continue to provide nursing care for patients in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).”
In terms of the workforce in general, Prof Carolan confirmed: “We do have a finite nursing workforce and whilst we have had some success recruiting new nurses into the teams in the hospital, we do still have vacancies across the various units and departments for nurses and healthcare support workers. Therefore, making these changes will also help us to ensure we can maintain safe staffing levels across the whole hospital site, in line with the legislation (Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019).
“As with the pilot last year, we are confident that patients should not experience any changes to their care experience whilst in hospital as a result of this change.”
The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 provides a statutory basis for the provision of appropriate staffing in health and care services, enabling safe and high quality care and improved outcomes for service users. For more information, visit: Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019: overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)