Critical incident declared at St Mary's Hospital after increased demand for emergency care

The public is being urged to collect their relatives from St Mary's Hospital on the Isle of Wight as soon as they are ready to be discharged.

The NHS Trust declared a critical incident yesterday (Monday 11 March) across its acute and ambulance services.

It says it's under significant pressure with demand for emergency and urgent care currently outstripping the number of beds available.

Victoria Lauchlan, Interim Chief Operating Officer, from the Trust says: "We currently have a high number of people in hospital beds who are waiting for onward care arrangements in the community.

"We are working as an island healthcare system to do everything we can to ensure we can help better support these people to be discharged home with a package of care or to Care and Nursing Homes.

"At this time we are asking people to help by collecting their relatives or friends as soon as they are ready to leave and helping with any additional care and support at home."

Juliet Pearce, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and AHPs added: "To protect the life-saving services we provide we are asking for everyone’s support including using your local healthcare services appropriately."

They ask for the public to be patient if they need to use the hospital services as the team are doing all they can.

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