East Midlands Ambulance Service had more than 500 emergencies waiting for a response when the service declared its first-ever critical incident on Monday evening (6 January).
The service (known as EMAS) declared a critical incident due to “significant patient demand, pressure within hospitals, and flooding” across the region.
Its operations director, Ben Holdaway said that more than 500 emergencies had been waiting for a response at the height of Monday evening’s demand.
Ben added:
“There are three contributing factors to us declaring a critical incident yesterday.
“First, we saw an increase in 999 calls through the day. We took over 1,200 more calls than we were expecting for the day.
“We lost a significant number of hours to ambulances being stuck at hospital waiting to hand their patients over. The third factor this time was the weather.
“We had to put actions in place to enable us to free up the ambulances, try and stop people calling 999, get to those patients who have been waiting an awful long time, and support our staff who are working tremendously hard.”
EMAS covers Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and Rutland.
Large sections of the region were hit by severe flooding on Monday following a weekend of rain.
Two major incidents were declared in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire due to flooding at the same time, which only compounded the issue, Mr Holdaway said.
He explained that a number of actions had been taken, including changes to the NHS 111 service.
Category three calls, which are urgent but not life-threatening, are now being referred to a clinician who will assess the call to see if there is a more suitable alternative rather than sending an ambulance.
Mr Holdaway said that despite the pressures, there are currently no plans to recall staff to duties – a procedure involving directing EMAS crews to come into work during their time off because of an evolving emergency.
“Our staff and volunteers have been working tremendously hard over Christmas and New Year, and this has led into this period,” he said.
“We have no plans currently to ask staff to come in or recall staff to duties for this incident. We think we can manage with what we have got. We always have that option, but it is not something we are considering at this moment in time.
“This isn’t just a hospital issue or an ambulance issue. This is where the system needs to come together and work as one.
“To enable us to offload quickly, for NUH to be able to move patients through the hospital, and discharge into the community in a timely fashion. Not one action is going to fix this – the system has got to come together to help support the release of ambulances.
“To support our staff and volunteers, who are working really hard, we ask that you only dial 999 if you feel you are in a life-threatening situation. Please consider pharmacies, NHS 111, or your GP before ringing 999.
“There may be a delay in us responding to you, so don’t call back asking where we are – only call back if the patient’s condition has deteriorated.”
EMAS says it will continue to review the situation but could not say how long it would remain in a critical incident.
• East Midlands Ambulance Service declares first ever Critical Incident
