Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) has today, Monday 29 June, declared a Critical Incident due to severe and sustained pressure on our services.
A spokesperson said:
‘We have seen an increasing demand on our services over recent days, partly due to the prolonged period of extreme heat experienced. This has led to unacceptable delays in our A&E department and across our hospital wards.
‘At 4 pm on Monday 29 June, we had 188 patients in our emergency department and 20 ambulances waiting outside the department with patients waiting to be seen.
‘We are seeing increases in people with dehydration and other conditions related to the high temperatures.
‘More patients than expected are staying in hospital after they are medically safe to go home. We need support from families and community partners to help more patients return home when they are able to.
‘Patients waiting for admission are having unacceptable and lengthy waits in corridors.
Staff are working under extreme pressure and in difficult environments.
Andrew Hall, Chief Operating Officer at NUH, said:
“Despite our teams working tirelessly throughout the extreme heat and often in difficult environments over the last week, the demand on our hospitals currently far exceeds our capacity.
“Declaring a Critical Incident is not a decision we have taken lightly, but it is necessary to protect patient safety.
“Our teams in our Accident and Emergency Department will continue to see the sickest patients first, which means that if you attend our A&E at QMC for conditions that are not an emergency, then you will have an extremely long wait and may be redirected to use other services instead.
“We ask the public to help us by only using A&E in a genuine emergency or following a serious accident. For all other issues, please ensure you have called 111 beforehand to be directed to the most appropriate service.
“When we’re discharging patients, we ask that their friends or loved ones pick them up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home.”
If you have a planned appointment, please continue to attend unless you hear from us.
What we’re doing
As a result of declaring a Critical Incident, we will now take several actions, including:
Rearranging some elective procedures to create capacity for the sickest patients. If you are affected, you will be contacted.
Opening all available beds and spaces.
Redeploying staff to help alleviate pressures.
Stopping non-essential meetings and activities.
Working with NHS and local partners to speed up discharges and provide community support.
How you can help
If your relative is due to be discharged from hospital and needs to be collected, please do so as early as possible. This will help our teams and free up a hospital bed for someone waiting to be admitted.
Only call 999 or attend ED for serious accidents and life-threatening emergencies.
Where the situation is not life-threatening, alternative support will be available through NHS 111 online or by calling 111.
Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) treat injuries including sprains, strains, suspected fractures, bites, cuts, scalds and other non-emergency conditions. Waiting times are usually much shorter than in ED.
Pharmacies can help with allergies, constipation, headaches and many other ailments. Over 200 pharmacies in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire can provide NHS medicines for seven common conditions through the Pharmacy First service. Depending on your age, this includes urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women, earache, shingles, sinusitis, impetigo and sore throats. See the website for details.
Please do not visit your loved ones in hospital if you have any flu or other respiratory illness symptoms. Please wait until you are better before visiting them.
