Norfolk is the latest area in England to see patients being moved to a hotel to free up hospital beds.

Norfolk and Waveney’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said the hotel will act as a temporary care facility after the service reported a critical incident this month due to “continued and unprecedented pressure”.

The pilot “care hotel” in central Norwich will provide short-term care for up to 15 patients for three months and will be used for patients who are ready to leave the hospital but need extra support before going home.

It is scheduled to open in the next few weeks. The accommodation is run by home care company Abicare, which offers similar services in other regions of the country, including three hotels in southern England.

Cath Byford, the senior nurse at Norfolk and Waveney CCG, said the pilot would provide “a short-term safe environment where people can withdraw from the hospital when they are well enough but not ready yet, without after.” to go home support”.

“This will help speed the flow of patients through our local hospitals so we can make more beds available for those who need them most,” she said.

“This is the first time we have tried this new approach in Norfolk and Waveney, although the model has been used successfully in other regions.”

Anne-Marie Perry, Managing Director of Abicare, said care hotels are “an excellent example of a proactive short-term solution that can be easily set up when needed, using resources that exist in the community”.

she previously said The severe shortage of home care workers capable of caring for people in their own homes is one of the reasons for the need for such services. “Hospitals are on their knees and we’re being contacted fairly regularly by clinical commission groups,” she said.