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There are dozens of hospitals across the country declared critical incidents as emergency departments continue to be overwhelmed by rising winter flu cases.
Hospital bosses have declared the health system’s highest alert level as NHS England he said of flu patients in the wards they were more than triple what they were last year, leading to that “mammoth demands” on health services.
Health services issue critical incident declarations when services become so overwhelmed that they struggle to provide critical services, putting patient safety at risk. This means that the service can call on partners for help with recruitment.
Some hospitals have also limited the number of visitors and encouraged people to wear surgical masks to limit the number of visitors spread of the virus.
NHS National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said frontline staff were under “extreme pressure” due to “the ongoing cold weather and respiratory viruses like flu – all against the backdrop of 2024 being the busiest year for ambulance and ambulance teams”. .
Sir Stephen said people who need medical support should continue to use services as usual, including the NHS website, GPs and pharmacies. People should call 111 if they need medical advice, and 999 and emergency departments should still be used in life-threatening emergencies.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust is the latest to declare critical incidents at Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal hospitals. A leaked committee memo showed they were preparing to urgently discharge 140 patients on Thursday and Friday to deal with “extreme winter pressures”.
The Independent has contacted Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust for comment.
Did this strike a chord with you? email bryony.gooch.ind@independent.co.uk
Here’s a list of hospitals that we know have declared a critical incident so far:
- Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Winchester Hospital, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Royal Cornwall Hospital, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust
- Derriford Hospital, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust
- Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Northampton General Hospital, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire
- Kettering General Hospital, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire
- Good Hope Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Solihull Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- Warwick Hospital, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
- Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust