Patients 'prioritised' as Nottinghamshire NHS system declares critical incident

Nottingham University Hospitals, which runs Queen’s Medical Centre, took that step on Monday, due to a large number of people at the “front door”.

Now, the whole NHS system in Nottinghamshire is under a critical incident – meaning healthcare bosses are concerned they cannot provide critical services for patients.

It means some operations and outpatient appointments may be postponed to “prioritise patients with the most urgent clinical need”.

Royal College of Nursing members were walking out today, December 20, with some East Midlands Ambulance Service workers, including paramedics, striking tomorrow, December 21.

In a statement, the Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, which commissions local healthcare services, said: “We are continuing to see high numbers of patients arriving at our hospitals, high demand for all services across the system, extended waiting times to access beds within our hospitals and difficulties in discharging patients.

“As a result, the health and care system is taking additional steps to prioritise and maintain safe services for patients.

“Working together as a system, we will provide mutual aid, maximise resources to manage urgent and emergency care pressures and coordinate our incident management.

“Our aim is to prioritise patients with the highest level of need and ensure we continue to be able to manage emergency care.

“We regret it has been necessary to take this step, but it is important we focus on patients needing urgent and emergency care as a priority.

“If you are not contacted directly about an operation being postponed, please continue to attend your appointment as usual.

“Our teams are continuing to work exceptionally hard, and we would like to reassure the public that despite the challenges faced, our services remain open for anyone who needs them.

“However, there are ways that you can help us.”

It asked people only call 999 or attend A&E departments for serious accidents and for “genuine emergencies” and call 111 for advice.

They asked relatives of those in hospital to collect family members as early as possible to free up a hospital bed for someone waiting to be admitted.