Planned operations postponed as major incident declared at Lincolnshire hospitals

A major incident has been declared at hospitals in Lincolnshire as services come under huge pressure.

It represents a worsening of the situation since last week, when the United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust declared a critical incident.

The trust said it was facing an extremely high demand for services, staff shortages caused by Covid-19 and an issue with water supply at Grantham and District Hospital.

Some planned operations have been postponed, along with outpatient appointments at Lincoln County Hospital for the next 48 hours, to accommodate patients who need urgent treatment.

What's the difference between a critical incident and a major incident?

Critical incidents are declared when local health bosses are concerned they cannot provide critical services for patients, such as emergency care.

They are often triggered to warn the wider health service that an NHS trust is under acute pressure and may need help from other sites, such as staff being redeployed from elsewhere.

A major incident is when the influx n of patients or the severity of their condition exceeds the capacity of normal hospital processes.

All hospitals are required to have a major incident plan that lays down the main responses to such incidents. 

The trust said affected patients would be contacted directly.

Patients who are not contacted directly are being asked to continue to attend.

It comes days after Doncaster's public health officials declared a major incident.

What is the current situation at ULHT?

According to the latest government data (up to 4 January), there are 78 patients in hospital being treated for Covid – twice as high as the 32 that there were on December 20, but less than a third as high as the 253 that were being treated at the peak in December 2020.

Two of the current patients were on ventilation.

There were more than 11,000 confirmed Covid cases in the most recent seven-day period for which data are available, with an infection rate of over 1,400 per 100,000 people.

In a statement the United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust said: "We appreciate that this may be disappointing for those patients whose appointments need to be postponed – especially given the ongoing delays due to the pandemic.

"However, patient safety must take priority and we need to take action to make sure that those who are more clinically urgent get the help they need as quickly as possible."