NHS trust running two Staffordshire hospitals declares third critical incident this year
The hospital trust which runs two Staffordshire hospitals has declared its third critical incident so far this year following "extreme pressures".
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University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM), which runs Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford, announced it had taken the measure on Thursday.
Bosses at the trust said the hospitals had seen "extremely high demand" since the Easter holiday period and have declared the incident to ensure staff take additional steps to maintain "safe services" for patients.
The trust previously declared critical incidents in January and February after seeing growing pressures.
Ann-Marie Riley, UHNM Chief Nurse, said: "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.
“As anticipated, the pressure is greatest in our emergency departments, who are facing on-going challenges as patients are unable to be admitted to beds promptly.
“During this time the emergency departments will continue to see the sickest patients first, which means for some patients there may be much longer delays for their treatment.
“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 are picked up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home."
Ms Riley went on to praise staff for their ongoing efforts during the "extremely challenging period" and thanked the public for their co-operation.
