East Midlands Ambulance Service is under "extreme pressure" and is currently on the highest level of alert. This is due to a combination of Covid absences among staff, difficulty caused by the hot weather and ongoing delays in handing over patients to A&E.
A spokesperson for the East Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed to Leicestershire Live it stands at REAP 4 (Resource Escalation Plan - colloquially known as "black alert" - and has done so since March 24. Several ambulance services confirmed to the PA news agency they were on the highest level of alert after the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported this was the case for all 10 in England.
Across Nottinghamshire, hospitals are also currently "very busy" with a wave of patient who need specialist trauma care, it has been revealed. A plan has been outlined by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust to tackle the increasing demand across the county.
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It comes after a Nottinghamshire hospital trust has reintroduced the need to wear masks in its sites after the number of patients positive for Covid increased by about 250 per cent in a month. The board of directors at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark Hospitals, have also returned to holding their monthly meeting virtually after 10 outbreaks were discovered.
To help with the high demand, NUH are encouraging the public to help by visiting NHS 111 online first, if they need medical help which is urgent but not an emergency. NHS 111 will direct them to the service that is most appropriate for their care needs – this could be the Urgent Treatment Centre, Pharmacy or a GP.
A spokesperson at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, said: “Our health and care services across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are currently very busy. This pressure is being felt across the country and we are working together with our system partners to ensure we provide care to everyone who needs it. We have seen an increase in patients who need specialist trauma care and we have a number of plans in place to ensure that we have the capacity to care for every patient who needs our services.”
Martin Flaherty, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said: “The NHS ambulance sector is under intense pressure, with all ambulance services operating at the highest level of four within their local resource escalation action plans, normally only ever reserved for major incidents or short-term periods of unusual demand.
“Severe delays in ambulance crews being able to hand over their patients at many hospital emergency departments are having a very significant impact on the ambulance sector’s ability to respond to patients as quickly as we would like to, because our crews and vehicles are stuck outside those hospitals.
“Added to this, we have a number of staff absences due to a rise in Covid cases as well as additional pressure caused by the current hot weather, which is making things even tougher for our staff and of course the patients they are caring for.”
He urged people not to call 999 back to ask about an estimated arrival time unless the patient’s condition has changed.
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Near record levels of 999 calls, challenges discharging patients to social care settings, increasing Covid cases – leading to more than 20,000 staff absences – and the current heatwave is inevitably having an impact on NHS capacity.
“It, however, remains vital that the public continue to dial 999 in an emergency and use 111 online, or their local pharmacy for other health issues and advice.”
An East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson added: "We have information on all our social media which is providing the best advice on what people should do to look after themselves during the heatwave and what services to access if it is not a life threatening or serious emergency."
At REAP Level 4 it means:
- An increase in command and control provision at Strategic and Tactical level
- A review of all clinical roles and their deployment into patient facing roles
- Implement support from partner agencies such as the fire service and Military personnel
- Clinicians usually in non-patient facing duties recalled into frontline services
As well as respiratory illnesses Covid cases have also soared. A total of 13,336 patients were in hospital as of 8am on July 11, NHS England figures show - the highest since April. In the Midlands region hospitals have been told to bring back mask wearing in hospitals after the rate of nosocomial (in-hospital spread) increased 97 per cent in a week.
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