A ‘critical incident’ has been declared at Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
Natalie Hudson, Chief Operating Officer at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTH), said:
“Like hospitals across the country, we are currently seeing very high demand for our services and long waits to be seen in our emergency departments and across our urgent care pathways, continued challenges to discharge patients who no longer medically need to be in hospital but have nowhere to go or no care package in place, and very high levels of bed occupancy, all of which is exacerbated by rapidly rising rates of Covid-19 in our communities and rising rates of admission to hospital which is creating further pressures around discharge, as well as a significant impact on staff absence rates across the organisation.
“Because of the pressures the trust is under, we have made the decision to declare an internal critical incident which means staff across the trust will be working together today to take actions immediately to attempt to alleviate the pressure we are under including stepping down some non-urgent activity in order to deliver all of the things we can and need to do to provide the very best care possible.
In a statement issued last night Morecambe Bay NHS Trust which covers six hospitals in North Lancashire said:
“We are running at extremely high levels of occupancy and like a number of other hospitals across the country, we are seeing huge rise in demands for our services at the moment. Attendances at A&E are rising; there are ongoing challenges in discharging patients who are well enough to leave hospital, and we are seeing an increase in staff sickness – all of which leads to longer waits than we would like for patients to be seen and admitted.
Because of these pressures, the Trust has taken the decision to escalate to its highest level of internal incident which allows us to be able to take additional steps to maintain safe services for our patients and help us cope with the growing pressures.
Unfortunately, this does mean postponing some non-urgent operations and outpatient appointments to accommodate those patients with the most urgent clinical need. Cancer and our other most urgent operations and appointments will continue to be prioritised and those patients whose appointments are being postponed are in the process of being contacted directly by our teams. ”
Chief Executive Aaron Cummins added:
We appreciate that this may be disappointing for those patients whose appointments need to be postponed – especially given the ongoing delays due to the pandemic. However, patient safety must take priority and we need to take action to make sure that those who are more clinically urgent get the help they need as quickly as possible.
Our teams continue to work exceptionally hard; and we would like to reassure our patients and the public that in spite of the challenges faced and some changes to non-urgent appointments, essential services remain fully open for anyone who needs them so if you require urgent medical help, please continue to come forward.
It is thought taht up to six NHS trusts across the country have now declared critical incidents over Covid
