Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) trust has appealed to the public after declaring a critical incident due to “severe and sustained pressure” on its services. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said soaring demand, winter illnesses and staff sickness since Christmas have caused “significant and unacceptable delays” across its emergency department and hospital wards.
The trust has urged members of the public to only attend A&E in a genuine emergency or serious accident, as services struggle to cope. The move comes after four hospital trusts in south east England declared critical incidents on Monday following a surge in complex A&E admissions.
Meanwhile, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has also declared a critical incident due to sustained pressures at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.
Andrew Hall, chief operating officer at Nottingham University Hospitals, said the trust was facing “pressures like never before”.
“Despite our teams working tirelessly, demand far exceeds our capacity,” he said: “Declaring a critical incident is not a decision we have taken lightly, but it is necessary to protect patient safety.
“I am deeply sorry for the poor experience this is causing and ask everyone to treat our staff with kindness as they work through this extremely difficult period.”
Speaking on its Facebook page this afternoon (January 13), the Trust revealed that the A&E department at the Queen’s Medical Centre, which is designed to treat around 350 patients a day, has been regularly seeing more than 500 patients daily.