Royal Stoke Hospital declares ‘crucial incident’ and solely attend if ‘life-threatening’

A major UK hospital has declared a “critical incident” and warned people to stay away from A&E unless it is a “serious or life-threatening emergency”.

NHS Royal Stoke University Hospital has already been under pressure but an increase over the weekend has forced action.

Royal Stoke chief operating officer Katy Thorpe said: “We have taken the difficult decision to declare a critical incident. This helps us to take additional measures to maintain safe services for our patients and those in the community waiting for an ambulance.

“Locally we are working with our NHS and local authority partners to ensure that people who need hospital and emergency care can get treatment quickly and to identify any additional support that allows us to discharge patients who do not require acute hospital care.

“As anticipated, the pressure is greatest in our emergency departments which are facing continued challenges as patients cannot be admitted to a bed promptly.”

It is not only NHS Royal Stoke University Hospital that the declaration applies to but it also covers County Hospital in Stafford, according to StokeonTrentLive.

Royal Stoke chief medical officer Dr Diane Adamson added: “During this time the emergency departments will continue to see the sickest patients first, which means, for some patients, there may be much longer delays than usual.

“We continue to ask the public to help us by only using A&E in a serious or life-threatening emergency. When we’re discharging patients, we ask that their friends or loved-ones pick them up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home.

“I would like to thank our staff for their ongoing efforts during this extremely challenging period and the public for their understanding and co-operation.”

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