• Reference Number: HEY1481/2025
• Departments: Corporate, Trustwide - Adult
• Last Updated: 30 June 2025

Introduction

You are being moved to a “Temporary Escalation Space” (TES) on a ward while you wait for a bed and this leaflet explains why you’re being taken there.

Why This Is Happening

Our hospitals are very busy right now. Every day, there are more than 150 patients who are ready to go home but need to stay with us until arrangements are made to support them at home or in residential care. This means we can’t move patients out of Emergency Department and Acute Assessment areas and into wards. Ambulances are having to wait outside of our hospital instead of answering 999 calls to help people whose lives may be in danger.

What We Are Doing

We must ease this pressure, so we are using “Temporary Escalation Spaces” (TES). A TES is a safe area on a ward, monitored by nursing staff, where patients like you can wait until you can be moved to a bed.

What This Means for You

A senior doctor and nurse have checked you and decided your condition is stable. You’ll be taken to a ward, but you’ll wait in a chair or on a trolley/bed in this safe area for a bed. You will be made comfortable, and our staff will monitor you while you wait. We are sorry for this inconvenience, but it is necessary to move you for the safety of all patients.

Why This Is Important

This is the safest way for us to manage the flow of patients in our hospitals right now. This system helps us keep space in the Emergency Department for the most seriously ill and injured patients. It also allows ambulance crews to bring patients inside the hospital so they can get back on the road to responding to 999 calls.

What Happens Next

On the ward, the nursing team will look after you until a bed is ready. If you have any concerns, please talk to the nursing staff or the Matron, who can help you.

Thank you for your understanding. We apologise for inconvenience this may cause.

General Advice and Consent

Most of your questions should have been answered by this leaflet, but remember that this is only a starting point for discussion with the healthcare team.

Consent to treatment

Before any doctor, nurse or therapist examines or treats you, they must seek your consent or permission. In order to make a decision, you need to have information from health professionals about the treatment or investigation which is being offered to you. You should always ask them more questions if you do not understand or if you want more information.

The information you receive should be about your condition, the alternatives available to you, and whether it carries risks as well as the benefits. What is important is that your consent is genuine or valid. That means:

• you must be able to give your consent
• you must be given enough information to enable you to make a decision
• you must be acting under your own free will and not under the strong influence of another person

Information about you

We collect and use your information to provide you with care and treatment. As part of your care, information about you will be shared between members of a healthcare team, some of whom you may not meet. Your information may also be used to help train staff, to check the quality of our care, to manage and plan the health service, and to help with research. Wherever possible we use anonymous data.

We may pass on relevant information to other health organisations that provide you with care. All information is treated as strictly confidential and is not given to anyone who does not need it. If you have any concerns please ask your doctor, or the person caring for you.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 we are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any information we hold about you. For further information visit the following page: Confidential Information about You.

If you or your carer needs information about your health and wellbeing and about your care and treatment in a different format, such as large print, braille or audio, due to disability, impairment or sensory loss, please advise a member of staff and this can be arranged.