A crack team of district nurses is being recruited as a rapid response unit to treat sick people at home rather than in hospital beds this winter.

And frontline staff employed by Airedale NHS Trust at Steeton are to get flu jabs in a bid to keep nurses fit for an admissions boom.

Newly qualified nurses and healthcare support workers are to be taken on and 20 more beds provided.

And trust staff are to designate one ward specifically for acute admissions instead of spreading them in different wards around Airedale Hospital.

The far-reaching changes are part of the trust's bid to cut its waiting list by about 1,500 cases and cope with the expected rise in admissions over the winter.

At the forefront of the plan - financed by an extra £168,000 in its budget - is the setting-up of the district nurse rapid response team.

Director of nursing Sue Franks said the aim was to save hospital beds for patients on the waiting list.

"We are facing a massive workload and when you add together the pressure to tackle the non-emergency admissions, it is going to be very tough," she said. "There has been very little respite this summer and staff are already tired before winter has hit us."

Treating more non-acute patients at home would leave more beds for dealing with emergencies and elective cases.

"Instead of GPs ringing the hospital and saying they need a bed for an elderly patient who needs looking after, the GPs can contact the rapid response team and they can care for her in her home," she said.

"Most people actually prefer to be treated in their home than come into hospital.''

Airedale NHS Trust employs about 1,500 nursing staff, more than a 1,000 at Airedale General Hospital in Steeton.

If necessary, bank and agency nurses will be used, staff redeployed from other areas and volunteers recruited for non-direct care.

St John Ambulance and Red Cross personnel could even be recruited in an emergency.

Trust staff are also expecting an influx of patients following the closure of the acute wards at Wharfedale General Hospital.

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