Critical incident at Isle of Wight hospital stood down

The trust oversees St Mary's Hospital in Newport, as well as the island's ambulance service

A critical incident declared over a shortage of hospital beds has been stood down after four days.

Isle of Wight NHS Trust announced on Monday that it had been experiencing high demand for its services at St Mary's Hospital and urged non-emergency patients to seek treatment elsewhere.

It said a lot of people were in hospital beds waiting for onward care.

The incident was stood down on Thursday afternoon - but the trust said it was still "extremely busy".

The level of demand had been causing "unacceptable delays" in care and admission, according to hospital bosses.

In a statement, the trust said it was working with partners across the island to ensure the right packages of care were in place, enabling patients to leave the hospital when they are ready to be discharged.

"We still have a large number of patients who no longer need to be in our hospital and would be better cared for elsewhere," it added.

People have been asked to collect relatives and friends from the hospital as soon as they are ready to leave, so hospital beds can be freed up.

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