A Nottinghamshire health boss has urged people to use NHS services wisely after a critical incident was declared. The alert was expanded to the whole of Nottinghamshire on Thursday, September 29, one day after Nottinghamshire University Hospitals Trust (NUH), which runs QMC and City Hospital, declared a critical incident, cancelling some non-urgent appointments.
Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, said hospitals were trying to keep as many routine appointments as possible. "Unless you hear otherwise, attend your appointments and procedures as planned," she said.
"People should use the services as wisely as possible, really, to make sure that our highest level emergency services can be used for those who are most in need. They should avoid going to A&E if they possibly can or not ring 999 unless it's an emergency. I would encourage people to use the 111 service and we do have treatment centres that people can go to. We do thank people for using the NHS wisely."
Read more: Health bosses 'working to manage pressures' as NUH declares critical incident
A critical incident is declared when the level of disruption results in a local NHS organisation temporarily or permanently losing its ability to deliver critical services. Raising the alert enables trusts to prioritise patients with the highest level of need.
NUH said high emergency attendances and difficulties with discharging patients led to the decision, after waiting numbers in hospitals began to grow as a result. This problem is being mirrored at Sherwood Forest Hospital NHS Trust, which runs King’s Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community Hospitals.
Ms Sullivan said a spike in the number of Covid patients was also contributing to the pressures, citing the fact that 243 people were in hospital with the virus on Wednesday, September 28.
"Having more people with Covid does impact the way hospitals can operate," Ms Sullivan said. "That's another contributing factor but it is not the main one." She said she anticipated the critical incident would "last days" but would be reviewed daily.
"We want to get into as good a position as we can before we redeploy staff back into their original roles," Ms Sullivan continued. "We will continue to review that early next week, so it's days rather than anything else would be our anticipation, but we will review that on a daily basis."
Labour councillor Michelle Welsh, who sits on Nottinghamshire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, said the critical incident was an indictment of the national NHS pressures. “My biggest fear is that we’re not even in the period of winter pressures and already our hospitals are at breaking point," she said.
“When they (hospitals) say they are cancelling routine operations, these help prevent further illnesses. It will make waiting lists even longer. I have spoken to people who are really worried to visit Nottingham hospitals as they fear they’ll be waiting for hours and won’t be able to get the treatment that they need.”
Read Next:
