East Kent Hospitals has declared a critical incident with patients told to only attend A&E if ‘absolutely necessary’
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate(Image: Gareth Fuller/PA)
Four NHS hospital trusts have been compelled to declare critical incidents due to “significant and sustained pressures” following a spike in flu and norovirus cases, including East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said it has declared a critical incident owing to “sustained pressures” at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, as reported by Sky News.
Meanwhile critical incidents in Surrey impact three trusts – Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
In a message on the Trust’s websites patients are urged to avoid A&E unless necessary. The message reads: “Our hospitals are under extreme pressure, so please only attend our Emergency Departments if it is absolutely necessary. For urgent, but non-life threatening care, use NHS 111 or local urgent care services.”
The trust also stated its 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 that “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.”
Last week, an average of 361 hospital beds were occupied each day by patients with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms. This represents a 27% increase from the previous week’s average of 284 patients, but remains below the recent peak of 427 patients in mid-December.
On Thursday (January 8), there was a dramatic rise in the number of patients enduring lengthy waits in ambulances outside hospitals across England before being transferred to A&E departments. Approximately 33% of patients who arrived by ambulance at hospitals last week were left waiting for at least 30 minutes to be handed over, reports the Express.
This represents a significant jump from 18% the week before and marks the highest figure recorded so far this winter.
Around 12% of ambulance handovers last week, affecting 11,805 patients, experienced delays exceeding an hour, compared to just 4% the previous week and representing the highest level seen this winter. Sky News reported that NHS Surrey Heartlands explained the decision to declare critical incidents reflects “a level of NHS escalation that enables trusts to focus on critical services”.
The south-east of England has witnessed a 24% surge, climbing from 290 patients to 360, whilst the eastern region has seen patient numbers increase by 17%, from 338 to 396. More modest percentage rises have been recorded in the north-west of England (up 8% from 253 patients to 274) and the Midlands (up 6% from 564 to 597), whereas in the north-east of England and Yorkshire the figure has remained virtually static, rising by just 0.2% from 628 to 629.
