Hospitals declare critical incident amid pressures

There may be longer delays than usual, while the sickest patients are prioritised, bosses say

A hospital trust in Staffordshire has declared a critical incident for the sixth time this year.

The announcement – which covers both Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital, Stafford – comes as the University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) trust has been under increasing pressure since the weekend, bosses said.

Both hospitals were experiencing an increase in A&E admissions.

Declaring a critical incident would helps staff take extra measures to maintain safe services for patients and people waiting for ambulances, they said.

The trust declared five critical incidents between 30 January and 9 July.

In a statement, the hospital trust said: “We will continue to work with our NHS and local authority partners to ensure that people who need hospital and emergency care can get treatment quickly and to identify any additional support that allows us to discharge patients who do not require acute hospital care.

“During this time the emergency departments will continue to see the sickest patients first, which means, for some patients, there may be much longer delays than usual.”

Members of the public were asked to only use A&E for life-threatening emergencies.

“It remains vital that people who need care come forward and get it in the usual way – using 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies and 111 for everything else,” hospital chiefs added.