Hospitals declare another critical incident as demand rises

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust said it had been experiencing high demand for services

A hospital trust has declared a second critical incident in less than a week amid pressures on services.

The alert from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) came on Wednesday night, with on-call teams drafted into two emergency departments.

The situation has been blamed on ambulance handover delays and the demand for urgent care.

The BBC has been told the trust will review the situation and look for patients who can be discharged.

SaTH has also asked people to stay away from A&E at Royal Shrewsbury and Telford's Princess Royal hospitals unless they really need to go.

Simon Whitehouse, interim chief executive of the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board, said the level of demand on health and care services over the last few months had been "unprecedented."

The last few days had been "particularly challenging," he said.

Critical incidents are seen as a warning to the wider health system that measures are being taken to safeguard the most critical areas of healthcare.

They are not uncommon in the winter, with several trusts including SaTH declaring critical incidents at the beginning of January.

The latest move follows the declaration of a critical incident on Friday 11 February, with measures rolled out to help the trust cope with "exceptionally high levels of demand".

The status was stood down the following day, but on Tuesday this week an MP said the situation at SaTH's sites was a "risk to life".

By Wednesday night, another critical incident had been declared, with SaTH saying it was experiencing "significant pressure on both staff and the demand through Covid and urgent care".

Shropshire Council's leader Lezley Picton said a "perfect storm" was brewing due to lack of government investment and an ambulance service that was "not performing in rural areas."

The leader of Telford and Wrekin council, Shaun Davies, said it was alarming that it had happened for the second time in a week.