BOSSES at Scotland's new super-hospital have vowed to hit waiting times targets amid a row over an elderly patient who died after waiting eight hours on a trolley in the emergency department.
The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow has been embroiled in controversy over worsening A&E waiting times, staff shortages and chaos as emergency admissions wait to be assessed.
The problems were highlighted in the case of an elderly man who died while waiting eight hours on a trolley in A&E earlier this month, as eyewitnesses described scenes of "mayhem" with nurses in tears and patients hooked up to blood bags in the corridor because there were no available beds.
Dr David Stewart, deputy medical director at for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, has vowed that a series of improvements will now be rolled out to ensure that the new hospital's A&E department achieves the 95 per cent turnaround target for patients to be seen, treated and either admitted or discharged within four hours by spring 2016.
Dr Stewart said: "We are not in the business of trying to deny there are problems and that people feel under pressure. But we also have to strike a balance for team morale.
"We can't say. 'Everything is a bunch of roses, don't worry it's all fine'. We are not saying that but likewise we have to keep it in perspective."
From today[Mon], the hospital will expand its immediate assessment unit service to cater to patients who have been referred to A&E by their GP but do not require admission to hospital.
It is thought that some 40 per cent of these patients can be managed with diagnostic tests and senior medical assessment, taking the pressure off in-patient beds.
Hospital bosses are also increasing the number of consultants working in the immediate assessment unit (IAU).
The hospital's management team is also taking it in turns to visit the wards in person to try to tackle bed blocking, whereby a patient is ready to be discharged but continues to occupy a bed because there is nowhere suitable for them to go.
Hospital bosses are working with local authorities to improve community support to allow more patients to go home sooner.
Anne Harkness, director of the south sector of Greater Glasgow and Clyde, also acknowledged that sickness absence was "particularly high among nursing staff" but that gaps were plugged with bank staff.
Dr Stewart added: "The sheer size and complexity of this hospital is something we have not seen before."
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