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Nottingham Hospitals declares critical incident due to sustained pressures
Tuesday 4 November
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has declared a Critical Incident as a result of sustained pressures across the Trust and in particular the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) Emergency Department (ED).
The impact of the pressures caused by a prolonged period of sustained demand, challenges around staffing, flow and discharge in the organisation is resulting in significant waits in ED and admissions to wards, despite tireless efforts from staff across the Trust.
When the incident was called, just after 4pm on Tuesday 4 November, there were 24 ambulances waiting outside of the ED at QMC and large numbers of people in the department.
The Trust has implemented a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) at the weekend and issues with the technical roll out of the product has added to the ability to manage the current levels of pressure.
*As of Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 6pm, we are still in Critical Incident, however we are in a much better position.
- Operational performance has improved, with fewer ambulance waits and long waits in A&E
- Our Electronic Patient Record position is much improved, with more of the system up and running, and less reliance on business continuity plans
- During this Critical Incident, we have not cancelled any operations
We will remain in Critical Incident overnight and will review again in the morning (6 November).
The Trust is asking members of the public and patients to carefully consider whether or not they need to attend ED, only attending in an emergency. Those with planned appointments should continue to attend unless told otherwise.
Andrew Hall, Chief Operating Officer at NUH, said: “Our staff are working tirelessly to care for patients, but the pressure on our services is causing very long waits and this is causing overcrowding in our ED.
“We know how frustrating this will be to people waiting in the department. Our staff are working as hard as they possibly can to get to them as soon as possible. Unfortunately, some of our colleagues have experienced abuse from people waiting to be treated and we ask that they are treated with kindness and respect.
“The public can help us by only attending ED in an emergency and carefully considering other options, such as calling NHS111 or visiting a local pharmacy.
“Our emergency services remain open and the public should continue to come forward as normal in emergency and life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk. Our aim is to prioritise patients with the highest level of need and ensure that we continue to manage emergency care.”
How the public can 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.