Bristol hospital staff brave snow to make it into work

Staff worked hard to ensure that it was business as usual at Bristol's hospitals despite the effects of the heavy snow.

Most health staff managed to get into work despite trouble on the roads, with many walking miles to reach hospitals because most buses were not running.

Emergency surgery operated as normal at NBT and UHBristol and only a handful of planned operations had to be cancelled, some as a result of patients not turning up and others due to staff being unable to travel.

All operations are being rescheduled for the earliest possible opportunity.

And patients jammed the switchboard at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UHBristol) as they attempted to warn staff that they would not be able to get in for their outpatient visits. The trust told people not to worry about contacting them if the snow was hampering them from attending their appointments and that staff would contact them to rearrange an alternative slot.

Staff at UHBristol's headquarters were redeployed elsewhere within the trust where necessary, with some senior managers getting back on the wards to help where their people had failed to get in or were running late.

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), which runs Frenchay and Southmead hospitals, found that the emergency department was busier with an increase in patients attending for breathing problems and limb injuries due to the wintry weather, while UHBristol and Weston General found that A&E was quieter than expected.

People were warned not to visit accident and emergency with minor ailments and were advised by hospital and ambulance bosses to seek help from NHS Direct or walk-in centres.

North Bristol NHS Trust management says there is a robust winter plan in place to deal with times like this and as such is coping well with a safe level of staffing covering all areas within our hospitals.

At Weston General and the other hospitals, night staff stayed on after their shifts should have finished to wait for colleagues who were running late.

Hospitals have contingency plans in place for extreme weather in the winter and will be closely monitoring forecasts over the coming days and taking action as necessary.

Spokesman for UHBristol, Adrian Ruck said: "We do have very comprehensive, robust, contingency plans to deal with severe weather and if these conditions continue into early next week, obviously we will put those plans into place. Our main objective is to make sure we are running safely."

The air ambulance service in Bristol was grounded yesterday morning as a result of low cloud rather than snow.

The helicopter used by Great Western Air Ambulance can fly in snow and was back online by the afternoon.

Great Western Ambulance service used 4x4 vehicles, currently on loan, to help them attend emergencies. They continued to deal with falls and also helped people who had suffered sledging accidents while enjoying the snow.

Crews attended 10 road traffic collisions across Avon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire in a three-hour period yesterday morning.