A&E at Northampton General Hospital operating at double capacity 'almost every day' this winter, data shows

A hospital’s accident and emergency (A&E) department has routinely operated at twice its capacity over recent months, bosses were told.

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) has capacity for 60 patients in its A&E but has had to treat up to 120 people at peak times “almost every day” this winter, a consultant said.

More than 12,600 people were treated at Northampton General’s A&E – about 400 every day – in December, according to data shared by NGH NHS Trust.

That total is 1,500 more patients than were treated there in December 2021. The situation led consultant Dr Sarah Vince to conclude she has “never had such a difficult winter” in her 18-year career.

“We should have around 60 patients in our emergency department but in the early evening almost every day in the winter we have had between 100 and 120 on a normal day,” she said.

“The real problem for us as doctors is how inefficient we become when we are full. When you have no cubicles, you cannot see a patient.

“You can’t listen to their chest, you can’t use an ECG (electrocardiogram) in the waiting area. So we almost grind to a halt…it’s so frustrating,” she said.

Dr Vince said the A&E’s resuscitation capacity has been “overwhelmed almost every day”. She added: “It feels like you can never make a good decision, you’re just making the least worst decision.”

She told a meeting of the trust’s board of directors on Friday (February 3): “The number that horrifies me the most is not the trolley waits, it’s those who are sat in chairs.

“Every single week there are people sat in chairs… and I just don’t recognise that as the health service that I trained in.”

She said that team spirit amongst staff was good, work amongst it has been “fantastic” and that they work “really well” together.

To help cope with waiting room pressures, a heated cabin - acting as an additional waiting area - was installed outside the A&E department at the start of 2023.

An NGH spokesman previously said: “The area will have heating, light, power, and CCTV coverage, and have suitable staffing available to create 24/7 cover, in order to create a temporary waiting area.

“We are looking at both a short term, and a longer term, solutions regarding our emergency department services.”

Deborah Needham, Kettering General Hospital’s chief executive, told the meeting she was “truly sorry” that patients had operations and appointments cancelled at her hospital over recent months.

She said Kettering and Northampton’s hospitals had “extremely busy A&Es” and “just did not have the capacity to care for every single patient who needed a bed”. She added that many of those have now been seen or have had their appointments rearranged.

She said Friday, December 27 and Saturday, December 28 had been “particularly challenging” days for both hospitals. Both declared critical incidents and visitors were restricted, however visiting restrictions have now been lifted.