By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A number of operations have been cancelled after the trust which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital declared a ‘critical incident’.
Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) took the step on Monday (December 19) due to a large number of people at the “front door” of the hospital.
The trust is seeing more patients with the flu and falls attending the Emergency Department.
NUH’s medical director said every bed was filled across the hospitals at the weekend, and the trust is currently “at a stage where we are moving one in for one out”.
On December 19, some operations were cancelled but day case surgery went ahead as planned.
The trust, like many across the country, has struggled with flow through the hospital due to ‘medically fit for discharge’ numbers of patients who cannot leave the hospital because of pressures in the social care sector.
Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) is not under a critical incident, but asked patients to only attend the Emergency Department in a “genuine emergency”.
The NUH critical incident comes in a week during which two NHS strikes are planned.
Royal College of Nursing members are walking out on December 20 and East Midlands Ambulance Service is striking on December 21.
Medical Director Dr Keith Girling told the Local Democracy Reporting Service said he had visited A&E at the Queen’s Medical Centre on Monday morning.
He said: “It’s extremely busy down there with a lot of very sick people.
“I walked through the urgent treatment unit and it was difficult for me to see any spare seats. We have got a number of patients in the corridor and that’s far from ideal.
“It’s been a very busy weekend, we filled the hospital. The number of patients with flu and respiratory illness has shot up over the last few days.
“We are at a stage where we are moving one in for one out.
“The cold weather and trauma-related falls and fractures have been really significant.
“Those two things have tipped us over the edge in a system that was already under a lot of pressure.
“Very sadly we have had to defer some operations today because we have had to use beds in some surgical wards for medical patients.”
Speaking of the strike action, he added: “It’s going to be a very difficult week, we are absolutely sighted of that.
“The teams are doing a fantastic job, they are working hard to give patients the best care they can.
“The big ask is if families can support patients that don’t need social care as soon as they are ready to come out, that would be really helpful to us.”
Dr Girling and Rachel Eddie, Chief Operating Officer for Sherwood Forest Hospitals, asked that patients call 111 before attending hospital.
Ms Eddie added: “Demand for NHS services remains high across the country right now and we are so grateful to our hardworking NHS colleagues for the work they are doing to ensure that patients can continue to access the medical attention they need in as timely a way as possible this winter.
“One thing we can all do to help our local hospitals is to consider the full range of NHS services before they come to hospital when it’s anything less than a genuine emergency.
“This is particularly important while services are so busy and, by doing simple things like visiting your local pharmacy or going to ‘NHS111 Online’ for the advice you need before attending our Emergency Departments, you can help ensure our hospitals can continue to be there for the patients that need them most this winter.”
