Bosses at a Kent hospital have declared an internal critical incident due to “ongoing and exceptional demand”.
The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said the decision had “not been taken lightly” following a high number of patients at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.
A spokesman for the trust said this evening: “Our hospitals are seeing very high numbers of patients needing hospital care.
“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 urgent hospital care.
“We also have a number of patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses at the William Harvey Hospital.”
The trust warned that attending the emergency department at the William Harvey Hospital for non-life-threatening conditions could result in an extremely long wait.
The trust said: “If you need medical assistance, please consider using alternative services such as NHS 111, your GP, local pharmacy or an urgent treatment centre. Advice and guidance are also available at 111.nhs.uk.”
A critical incident is where the level of disruption results in a trust temporarily or permanently losing its ability to deliver key services.
The trust said it was working closely with partners across the health care system to safely discharge patients who no longer required acute hospital care and to reduce avoidable admissions.
A spokesman said: “We are currently reviewing patients scheduled for planned procedures and appointments.
“Unless you hear from us directly, please assume your procedure or appointment will go ahead as planned.”
Anyone suffering from a winter virus is advised to stay at home, rest, drink plenty of fluids, and use over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to help manage symptoms.
Sarah Hayes is the chief nursing and midwifery officer at East Kent Hospitals.
She said: “Our teams continue to work incredibly hard in exceptionally busy conditions to ensure patients receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care.”
“The pressure on our urgent and emergency services remains extremely high, and we are focused on supporting patients who need us most.
“Declaring a critical incident enables us to keep patients safe by drawing on additional support from our colleagues across the health system, both in terms of enabling safe discharges and providing support to keep patients out of hospital.
“As always, we would like to thank our patients and the public for their continued understanding.
“It’s important that anyone who needs urgent medical help continues to come forward – using 999 in life-threatening emergencies and 111 for other urgent care.”
The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest hospital trusts in England.
It runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury, the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, the Buckland Hospital in Dover and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone, as well as some outpatient facilities in the East Kent and Medway areas.
