Nottingham hospital trust declares critical incident amid winter infections

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has declared a critical incident amid severe and sustained pressure on its services, Independent.co reports.

The trust said it is overwhelmed by rising patient numbers, winter infections such as flu and norovirus, and staff sickness, leading to significant and unacceptable delays in A&E and on hospital wards. It is the fifth NHS trust in the last 24 hours to declare a critical incident, with others in Surrey and Kent also facing similar challenges. Patients are experiencing lengthy waits, with the Queen's Medical Centre's A&E regularly seeing over 500 patients daily despite being designed for 350.

The trust is appealing to the public to attend A&E only for genuine emergencies and to use other services such as NHS 111 for less urgent health concerns.

Key Topics

Health, Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, A&e, Flu, Norovirus