Critical incident declared at Staffordshire hospitals

Patients at Royal Stoke University Hospital's emergency department are being warned of delays

A critical incident has been declared at two hospitals in Staffordshire due to "severe and sustained pressure".

Both Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford are experiencing extremely high demand on services, bosses have said.

The pressure is greatest in the emergency departments as patients are unable to be admitted to beds promptly.

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) warns patients may experience longer delays for treatment.

Simon Evans, UHNM's chief operating officer, said services had been under severe and sustained pressure since the Christmas holiday period, however hospitals had seen even greater demands in the last 24 hours.

NHS chiefs say demand has grown in the last 24 hours

Mr Evans added: "We will always do our best for patients and keep patients safe, and locally we are working with our NHS and local authority partners to put in place measures to ensure that people who need hospital and emergency care can get treatment quickly and to identify and utilise any additional capacity to allow us to discharge patients that do not require hospital care.

"We continue to ask the public to help us by only using A&E in a serious or life-threatening emergency and for their help when we're discharging their friends or loved ones to ensure they're picked up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home."