Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals declare critical incidents after patients forced to wait more than 30 hours for bed

Northampton General Hospital (NGH) has declared a critical incident due to a “large rise in demand for services”.

The Cliftonville hospital declared the highest level of alert – a ‘critical incident’ – today (Thursday January 25).

Bosses at the hospital say many patients are attending due to respiratory conditions and that emergency admissions are “high”. They say they have been managing “on-going pressures”, but have today had to declare a critical incident.

The incident has also been declared for Kettering General Hospital, where some patients have had to wait more than 30 hours in A&E for an inpatient bed.

Residents are being asked to only call 999 or go to A&E in “life threatening emergencies”.

A statement on the NGH website says: “We are seeing high levels of admissions and attendances at Accident and Emergency at both Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital.

“Many of our patients are attending due to respiratory conditions which is to be expected at this time of year.

“As a consequence we are seeing a large rise in demand for our services at the moment. Attendances at A&E are high as are emergency admissions.

“We also have a number of patients who are well enough to leave hospital but who remain in hospital for a variety of reasons.”

Dr Imogen Staveley, Interim Chief Medical Officer at NHS Northamptonshire ICB added: “This is an exceptional situation and we are doing everything in partnership across the NHS and Social Care to resolve it.

"I would ask patients to assist the NHS by choosing which service to access when they are unwell, only call 999 in a true emergency and to access alternative services where possible. We assure the public that all emergency services remain open and available whilst we discharge patients from hospital to the most appropriate setting for their ongoing care.”

NGH says declaring a critical incident means they can open additional beds and enlist the support of partners to help cope with the current pressures.

The NGH statement adds: “Please be assured we are doing everything we can manage the situation as quickly as possible, but we will only be in a position to do this when we are confident we can do this safely. So we need your help by please following the advice we are sharing.

“We understand this is a difficult position for our local NHS, care and public services to be in and we thank our fantastic community and staff for their patience and support over what is a very challenging time for all of us.”

Patients should continue to attend planned appointments unless they are contacted. General practice remains open in the usual way but is likely to be extremely busy.

Residents are asked to seek medical assistance early from pharmacies, use NHS 111 or Corby Urgent Care, if their condition is not life-threatening, "to avoid conditions becoming worse and needing urgent medical help”.