Pressure on hospital emergency departments easing

The internal critical incident at Kettering General Hospital has been stood down

There are signs that pressure on emergency services at two hospitals is easing.

An internal critical incident at Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals has been stood down.

It was imposed last month in response to high demand in the accident and emergency departments at the two sites.

It follows the declaration of a critical incident on 7 January.

Unlike the general critical incident, the internal critical incident was not widely publicised.

It was stood down on Friday 31 January.

Hemant Nemade, the group medical director for University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group, said: "Declaring an incident assists us in taking escalated internal actions with the support of our partners to address the key concerns caused by demand pressures."

The critical incident made public on 7 January was lifted a week later.

Patients have been urged not to come to Northampton General Hospital's A&E department if they can go elsewhere

The hospitals announced on 28 January that they were experiencing "high demand" for services and urged local people "not to attend our emergency departments at this time if their concerns can be dealt with by other local health services".

Relatives of patients who were ready to go home were encouraged to "support their discharge as soon as possible and enable beds to be freed up for those who are seriously ill".

The NHS said the critical incident declared on 7 January was caused by "increased hospital visits due to flu, viral infections and other factors".

The East Midlands Ambulance Service, which covers Northamptonshire, announced its first ever critical incident on 6 January.

The hospital trusts declined to comment further on the lifting of the internal critical incident.