Critical incident declared at two hospitals in Staffordshire after 'severe and sustained pressure'

Patients are being warned of long delays as the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has declared a critical incident.

Among the hospitals affected are the Royal Stoke University Hospital and the County Hospital in Stafford.

The trust says it is facing sustained pressure to services. In particular, Accident and Emergency services are the most badly affected.

Patients wishing to attend hospital are being advised to only use A&E when in serious or life-threatening emergencies.

A statement released by the Chief Operating Officer Simon Evans states that the demand for services has greatly increased in the last three days.

"We are currently experiencing extremely high demand for all our services. Both Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford have been under severe and sustained pressure for the last week , but we have seen even greater demands in the last three days.

"We have therefore taken the decision to declare a critical incident. This helps us to take additional measures to maintain safe services for our patients and those in the community waiting for an ambulance.

"Locally, we are working with our NHS and local authority partners to ensure that people who need hospital and emergency care can get treatment quickly and to identify any additional support that allows us to discharge patients who do not require acute hospital care.

"As anticipated, the pressure is greatest in our emergency departments, which are facing continued challenges as patients cannot be admitted to beds promptly."

Dr Matthew Lewis, the trust's Medical Director said: "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 than usual.

"We continue to ask the public to help us by only using A&E in a serious or life threatening emergency. When we’re discharging patients, we ask that their friends or loved ones pick them up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home.

"I would like to thank our staff for their on-going efforts during this extremely challenging period and the public for their understanding and co-operation."

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