Greater Manchester Hospitals Reaching Capacity

Greater Manchester's most senior health chief has warned that the region's hospitals are 'very close' to running out of space, and that this year's winter pressures could be about to get even worse.

Jon Rouse, chief officer for Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, said every hospital had been operating at 90 per cent capacity for two weeks.

He added that all trusts across the region were 'reviewing' their plans for the coming weeks after guidance from NHS England recommended non-urgent procedures and outpatient appointments be cancelled until after January 31.

Since Christmas day, ambulances have been diverted away from A&Es to other hospitals on four different occasions due to crippling demand, and the Royal Bolton Hospital has been under particular pressure due to the flu outbreak.

Mr Rouse said:

"The pressures are harder this year than the last few without question. Those pressures tend to change from day to day, even hour to hour," he said.

"We know the pressures stay very high in January and early February. We know there is a cold snap forecast this weekend. That is not good news.

"We are continuously very close to full capacity, all hospitals have very high occupancy. But our workforce has done remarkably well coping with the pressure and will continue to do so. We are very proud of them."

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