Critical incident stood down at Nottingham University Hospitals

Jan 6, 2023

By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter

Nottingham’s hospitals have stood down a critical incident declared last month because of an increase in patient numbers.

Healthcare bosses at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) declared the incident on December 19 after becoming concerned they could not provide critical services for patients because of rising demand.

Some operations were postponed to prioritise patients in the most need.

On January 5, NUH said it had stood down the incident but added that pressures on staff and services “remain severe”.

A critical incident for the whole NHS system in Nottinghamshire remains in place. Sherwood Forest Hospitals also said its critical incident is still in place.

It comes after a Nottinghamshire doctor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week that the NHS felt like “a sinking ship”.

Michelle Rhodes, Chief Nurse at NUH, which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital, said at the time there were long waits in A&E with patients often waiting on corridors.

She said: “Our staff and services are under the most strain that I have ever known.

“The response from everyone at our hospitals to the exceptional pressures we are facing has been immense – we have opened more beds at short notice, deployed staff from elsewhere in the hospital to support colleagues in ED, ensured that patients waiting for beds have access to food and water and we are using hospital at home and remote monitoring services to discharge people as soon as they are medically fit to free up beds.

“We will continue to prioritise patients who are most in need of clinical care, which means those who are the sickest or most seriously injured will be seen more quickly.”