Three NHS critical incidents end as pressures ease

Some NHS trusts in Hampshire have stood down critical alerts although they said pressures remained

Three NHS trusts have ended critical incidents which were declared earlier this week due to high patient numbers.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Portsmouth University Hospitals NHS Trust said they had cancelled the alert although they were "incredibly busy".

South Central Ambulance Service said its workload had reduced although the number of patient calls was still high.

The NHS said pressures remained with very few spare hospital beds in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

St Mary's Hospital in Newport postponed routine appointments and surgery

Five out of seven NHS trusts in Hampshire were on critical incident alerts due to winter pressures, the NHS reported on Tuesday.

Isle of Wight NHS Trust, which has postponed routine appointments and surgery, said its critical status remained in place.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust, which also announced a critical alert, has not provided an update.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board renewed an appeal to families to collect patients from hospitals who could be cared for at home.

Lara Alloway, the board's deputy chief medical officer for acute care, said: "All our services are already seeing high levels of people needing care.

"In hospitals, ensuring that beds are freed up as early as possible helps minimise the amount of time patients needing to be admitted are left waiting and reduces pressure on staff."

Hospital trusts declare a critical incident when they are worried they are on the brink of not being able to provide critical services, such as emergency care.

It paves the way for measures to be taken, such as redeployment of staff.