Critical Incident stood down at NUH but pressures remain | Latest news

This afternoon, Monday 16 February, we have stood down the Critical Incident that was declared on Friday (13 February) due to significant demand on our services, particularly in A&E and resulting in lengthy waits for patients.

We have been able to take this decision to stand down the Critical Incident due to an improved position of flow through our hospitals.

However, our hospitals and our A&E department remain very busy. Therefore, we are still asking for the public to think carefully before selecting the right healthcare service for their needs, and to support us by collecting relatives being discharged from hospital as early as possible.

Andrew Hall, Chief Operating Officer, said: “Colleagues across our hospitals have worked incredibly hard over the last three days to do all they can to care for our patients and make conditions as safe as possible.

“Thanks to their efforts and the support of the public, flow through our hospitals, in particular within our respiratory services, has improved and returned to levels expected this time of year.

“I would like to apologise to any patient who has experienced long waits in our hospitals during this period and hope that they can see how hard staff have been working to make a difference. And I would like to thank those staff who have worked incredibly hard to support flow through the hospitals and offered to do additional shifts during this period.

“Our hospitals do still remain incredibly busy, and so we are still looking to the public to support us. If you are contacted to a patient home, please do so as quickly as you can. And continue to use our services wisely and only attend A&E in an emergency.”

How you can continue to help

• If your relative is due to be discharged from hospital and needs to be collected, please do so as early as possible. This will help our teams and free up a hospital bed for someone waiting to be admitted.
• Only call 999 or attend ED for serious accidents and for life threatening emergencies.
• Where the situation is not life-threatening, alternative support will be available through NHS111 online or by calling 111.
• Urgent Treatment Centres (UTC) treat injuries including sprains, strains, suspected fractures, bites, cuts, scalds and other non-emergency conditions. Waiting times are usually much shorter than ED
• Pharmacies can help with allergies, constipation, headaches and many other ailments, over 200 pharmacies in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire can provide NHS medicines for seven common conditions through the Pharmacy First service. Depending on your age, this includes Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) in women, earache, shingles, sinusitis, impetigo and sore throats. See the website for details.
• Please do not visit your loved ones in hospital if you have any flu or other respiratory illness symptoms - please wait until you are better to visit them.