LOOK out for elderly friends and neighbours, be patient with new staff and don’t necessarily expect an overnight stay, says medical director Christine Blanshard, as the busy winter period at the hospital gets underway.

Dr Blanshard said ensuring that elderly friends and neighbours had got some shopping in during bad weather, that they were keeping warm and well, and in case of any concerns, could call a relative or GP would help the hospital enormously.

“We’ve got a considerable elderly population in Salisbury,”

she said, “and at this time of year, we do see a huge increase in the admission of frail, elderly patients, often with respiratory illnesses, or who have had falls when they are trying to get out in bad weather, or who become a bit unwell and take to their beds.

Some of that could be avoided.”

The hospital has just opened an additional medical ward for the winter period and Dr Blanshard is asking for people to be patient with staff who may be new to the hospital.

“We will have additional beds open for the winter period that we don’t normally have and our regular staff will be stretched a bit more over inpatient areas.

“We are expecting to be fully staffed but will be using bank and agency staff. The agency staff are carefully vetted and supervised by our regular staff but people may need to be a bit more patient with those who may not necessarily know the hospital as our regular staff do.”

For patients who are referred by GPs, they are seen in the hospital’s medical admissions unit and may be seen, treated and discharged on the same day.

“Don’t necessarily expect to be admitted to hospital overnight when you are referred by your GP,” Dr Blanshard says.

“Particularly if people are bringing relatives, they themselves may want to stay because we may not necessarily keep people in and they may be needed to take them home again once they have been treated.”

Dr Blanshard says the support of the community is hugely important with many staff enjoying their jobs due to its strong support.

“We often get some fantastic feedback from our patients,” she said. “When our staff feel under strain, thank you’s from our patients or their families means a lot to our staff. It helps to boost morale at what can be quite a difficult time of year.”