HOSPITAL bosses have conducted a review of how well health services in York coped last winter, and have admitted some aspects were hit hard.

Ambulance handovers and waiting times were both severely impacted during the cold winter months of 2016/17, the report says, and “delayed discharges” - bed blocking - was also a problem.

The report has been produced by York Teaching Hospital NHS Trust for a health watchdog committee that is due to meet next week.

Even before the worst weather hit the hospitals faced a background of high bed-occupancy and a lot of people needing non-elective - or unplanned - treatment, it says.

Nationally last winter was one of the most challenging the health service has seen in recent years, the report adds, with waiting time target performance the worst since reporting began in 2004.

That also meant that with other facilities already under pressure there was less chance for the services in York to divert patients elsewhere.

The number of people going to the hospital over Christmas and New Year was also up by 14 per cent on the previous year, and ambulance arrivals were up by nine per cent.

Staff sickness also hit hard, and when combined with a surge in the pressure the hospital was facing, it meant ambulance handover and waiting times were badly hit.

However, the report also says staff still provided dedicated and high quality care, and the hospital kept up its planned and urgent care by making the best use of Bridlington and York hospitals.

It also shows that while bed blocking - or delayed discharge - was a problem, it had improved on previous years.

The number of “bed days” lost, because patients had to wait in hospital until care and support was ready for them either at home or elsewhere, had fallen from 6,086 the previous year to 5,763 between October 2016 and March 2017.

City of York Council’s health and adult social care scrutiny committee will meet next Wednesday, May 31 to discuss the report.