Critical incident declared at trust over pressures

The emergency department at the Leicester Royal Infirmary is "particularly busy", the trust said

An NHS trust has declared a critical incident due to "significant pressures".

University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust and the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board declared the incident at UHL on Wednesday.

The trust said its hospitals were "seeing a higher than usual number of patients needing care", with the Leicester Royal Infirmary's emergency department and the clinical decisions unit at Glenfield Hospital "particularly busy".

People have been urged to only attend hospital emergency departments for life-threatening illnesses or injuries.

'All capacity possible'

The trust said the high number of patients was "creating a challenging ambulance handover situation and limited ability to discharge patients to onward care or home".

However, the trust stressed essential services remained fully open for anyone who needed them, and anyone who has an appointment over the coming days should attend unless told otherwise.

It added that declaring a critical incident allowed health officials to "take additional steps in the way services are managed so we can maintain safety for our patients and help staff manage the growing pressures we are experiencing".

This includes focusing staff on the areas most in need, asking some staff to come back from annual leave and using "all capacity possible" in the health system.

UHL trust medical director Andrew Furlong said: "If you need care urgently but it's not life-threatening, please call NHS 111 or use 111 online where trained advisors can support you in getting care in the right place for your needs.

"I would like to thank our incredible teams across the health and social care sector for their continued efforts in keeping our patients safe."