Four NHS hospital trusts have declared ‘critical incidents’ amid rising flu and norovirus cases and a surge in staff sickness.
The healthcare providers – in Surrey and Kent – are said to be experiencing ‘exceptionally high demand’ as a growing number of patients with winter illnesses are admitted for treatment.
Three trusts in Surrey – Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – have been affected.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has also announced a ‘critical incident’ due to ‘sustained pressures’ at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.
The trust said hospitals were experiencing ‘exceptionally high demand, driven by a continued high admission rate and a large number of patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses’.
It added: ‘Beds across our hospitals are currently full and attendance at our emergency departments is extremely high, meaning there is very limited capacity to admit further patients who need acute care.
‘Attending our emergency departments for non-life-threatening conditions will result in an extremely long wait.
‘If you need medical assistance, please consider using alternative services.’
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has also announced a ‘critical incident’ due to ‘sustained pressures’ at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate (pictured)
NHS Surrey Heartlands said its decision to declare critical incidents reflected ‘a level of NHS escalation that enables trusts to focus on critical services’.
The trust added there had been a surge in complex attendances to A&E departments as well as ongoing challenges in discharging patients well enough to leave hospital.
It said the situation was being ‘exacerbated by increases in flu and norovirus cases and an increase in staff sickness’.
Dr Charlotte Canniff, joint chief medical officer of NHS Surrey Heartlands, told the BBC that declaring a critical incident meant trusts could take additional steps to ‘help us cope with the growing pressures’.
She said: ‘Unfortunately, this means local organisations may need to reschedule some non-urgent operations, treatments and outpatient appointments to accommodate those patients with the most urgent clinical need.
‘People should attend appointments unless they are contacted; cancer and our other most urgent operations continue to be prioritised.’
In recent days, critical incidents have also been declared in Birmingham, Staffordshire and two areas of Wales.
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in south east Wales reported ‘sustained pressure’ on its services yesterday after ‘a significant increase of norovirus cases across Gwent’.
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Three trusts in Surrey – Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – have been affected. The East Surrey Hospital is pictured
On Thursday, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust in Staffordshire, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales all reported exceptionally high demand.
Last week a top doctor warned ‘the worst if far from over’ amid a surge in cases of flu and other winter viruses.
Figures showed more than 2,940 beds were taken up by flu patients alone in England two weeks ago – a nine per cent rise on the previous week.
The number of patients hospitalised with the winter vomiting bug, Norovirus, and Covid per day were also up on the previous week’s figures.
It came after two weeks of falling numbers, which led experts to speculate that flu admissions ‘might be starting to settle in some parts of the country’.
Yet, NHS England’s medical director Professor Meghana Pandit, warned: ‘It’s clear that the worst is far from over for the NHS this winter.’
She added: ‘The cold weather also means we are also seeing more vulnerable patients with respiratory problems in A&E.’
