Critical incident declared at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

A critical incident has been declared at the NHS Trust which runs Nottingham’s two main hospitals, with patients experiencing “significant and unacceptable delays” to services.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust said that since Christmas an increase in winter infections and staff illness had led to “severe and sustained pressure” on its emergency department (ED) and across all hospital wards.

The trust said the Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) emergency department was designed to treat 350 patients a day, but the site “regularly” received more than 500 patients.

In declaring the incident critical Tuesday, hospital officials pleaded with people to only go to the emergency room in an emergency.

NUH said demand for its hospital beds had “exceeded all our modeling predictions”, with patients experiencing “unacceptably long waits in corridors”.

Andrew Hall, NUH operations director, said: “We are under pressure like never before.

“Despite the tireless work of our teams, the demand on our hospitals far exceeds our capacity.

“Declaring a critical incident is not a decision we took lightly, but it is necessary to protect patient safety.

“I am deeply sorry for the poor experience this is causing and I ask everyone to treat our staff with kindness as they navigate this difficult time to provide the quality of care you expect.”

Following the declaration of the critical incident, the trust will now reorganize some elective procedures to create capacity for the sickest patients.

All available beds and spaces will be opened and some staff will be redeployed to help ease pressures.

They will also work with the NHS and local partners to speed up discharges and provide community support.

Dr Manjeet Shehmar, medical director at NUH, said: “Our emergency department teams will continue to see the sickest patients first, meaning that if you present to our emergency department at QMC for conditions that do not constitute an emergency, then you will have an extremely long wait and may be diverted to other services instead.

“We continue to ask the public to help us by using ED only in the event of an emergency or serious accident. For all other concerns, ensure you have called 111 first to be directed to the most appropriate service.”

Patients who have scheduled appointments are advised to continue attending unless otherwise instructed.

East Midlands Ambulance Service also said on Tuesday its emergency service was “extremely busy” and urged people to only call 999 for life-threatening emergencies.