By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
East Midlands Ambulance Service had more than 500 emergencies waiting for a response when the service declared its first ever critical incident on Monday evening (January 6).
The service (known as EMAS) declared a critical incident due to “significant patient demand, pressure within hospitals and flooding” across the region.
Its operations director, Ben Holdaway, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) more than 500 emergencies had been waiting for a response at the height of Monday evening’s demand.
This number typically sits around 150 emergency calls on the average Monday evening.
“This is the first time EMAS has declared a critical incident,” he said, speaking to the LDRS from Beechdale Ambulance Station on Tuesday (January 7).
“There are three contributing factors yesterday to us declaring a critical incident.
“First we saw through the day an increase in 999 calls. We took over 1,200 more calls than we were expecting for the day.
“We lost a significant number of hours to ambulances being stuck at hospital waiting to hand their patients over. The third factor this time was the weather.
“We had to put actions in place to enable us to free the ambulances up, try and stop people calling 999 and get to those patients who have been waiting an awful long time, and to support our staff who are working tremendously hard.”
EMAS covers Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and Rutland.
Large sections of the region were hit by severe flooding on Monday following a weekend of rain.
Two major incidents were declared in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire due to flooding at the same time, only compounding the issue, Mr Holdaway said.
He said a number of actions had been taken, including changes to the NHS 111 service.
Category three calls, which are urgent but not life-threatening calls, are now being referred to a clinician, who will assess the call to see if there is a more suitable alternative rather than sending an ambulance.
Mr Holdaway said despite the pressures there are currently no plans to recall staff to duties – a procedure involving directing EMAS crews to come into work during their time off because of an evolving emergency.
“Our staff and volunteers have been working tremendously hard over Christmas and New Year, and led into this period,” he said.
“We have no plans currently to ask staff to come in or recall staff to duties for this incident. We think we can manage with what we have got. We always have that options but it is not something we are considering at this moment in time.
“This isn’t just a hospital issue or an ambulance issue. This is where the system needs to come together and work as one.
“To enable us to offload quickly, for NUH to be able to move patients through the hospital, and discharge into the community in a timely fashion. Not one action is going to fix this, it has got to be the systems that come together to help support release the ambulances.
“To support our staff and volunteers that are working really hard our ask only dial 999 if you feel you are in a life-threatening situation. Please consider pharmacies, NHS 111 or your GP before ringing 999.
“There may be a delay in us responding to you, and then don’t call back asking where we are, only call back if the patient’s condition has deteriorated.”
EMAS says it will continue to review the situation, but could not say how long it would remain in a critical incident.
