Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has declared a critical incident amid mounting pressure across its three sites, with patients facing ‘unacceptable and lengthy waits’ in A&E corridors
A critical incident has been declared at an NHS trust as patients endure “unacceptable” waits in corridors.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS (NUH) Trust announced an emergency today (February 13) as pressure mounts across its three sites: Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital and Ropewalk House.
The trust revealed that substantial demand on its services over the past week has resulted in “unacceptable and lengthy waits on corridors in A&E”.
The spike is predominantly caused by a dramatic increase in respiratory illnesses, with more than half of adult beds currently filled by patients aged over 80.
Meanwhile, nearly two wards’ worth of patients are remaining in hospital longer than required, the trust revealed, explaining that the capacity crisis has left staff operating under “extreme pressure”, reports the Mirror.
Andrew Hall, NUH’s chief operating officer, appealed to people to think carefully about whether they genuinely need to visit A&E.
Those facing an emergency should still head to A&E, but others are urged to visit their local pharmacy or ring 111 for guidance.
Patients with scheduled appointments are requested to turn up as arranged unless advised otherwise.
He said: “The pressures we are seeing in our hospitals are significant and our patients are having to wait longer than they should to be seen.
“We have been working tirelessly all week to mitigate the pressures we are currently seeing but this has not had the desired impact, and so we declaring a Critical Incident is necessary to protect patient safety. I would like to apologise to all patients who are in our hospitals and are waiting for long periods.
“While staff are doing all they can to help people to be seen quickly and hope to have more than 200 patients home today, we also need the public to help us. Getting patients home as soon as they are well enough to is vital and we would like families and carers to please prioritise getting their loved ones home when they are contacted.
“This could mean collecting them before you are due to finish work, making sure they have their medication ready at home and ensuring they have somewhere warm to go back to.”
The announcement follows NUH declaring a critical incident in January when it revealed that since Christmas, soaring demand, winter bugs and staff illness had caused “significant and unacceptable delays” in its emergency department and hospital wards.
The trust has pleaded with the public to only use A&E “in an emergency or serious accident”.
This came after four NHS hospital trusts across South East England – three in Surrey and one in Kent – declared critical incidents earlier that week following a spike in complex admissions to A&E departments.
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