During early April, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead was "completely bed-blocked" with high numbers of Covid-19 patients and social care issues meaning tens of patients couldn't be sent home from hospital.
Hospital execs told a meeting of the Gateshead Health NHS Trust's board that this meant the hospital was effectively "one in, one out", and bed occupancy was at upwards of 99%. The situation has improved over April, but it remains the case that "delayed discharges" - where a lack of social care provision means otherwise healthy patients can't be sent home - are causing huge issues with the flow of patients through the hospital.
This is a key reason that, in April, more than 130 patients spent over half an hour waiting in an ambulance outside of the hospital's A&E - while over the same month 71 patients were waiting on trolleys in A&E for a bed for more than 12 hours.
