Stafford hospital trust declares 'critical incident' as some patients face 12-hour wait in A&E

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) says its emergency departments will continue to see the sickest patients first, but some patients could be waiting longer than 12 hours.

People have been asked to only use A&E in a serious or life-threatening emergency and for their help in picking up their loved ones from hospital as soon as they are able to go home.

Bosses at the trust, which also runs Royal Stoke University Hospital, says it is currently experiencing "extremely high demand" for all services.

Dr Matthew Lewis, UHNM medical director, said: “Both Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital in Stafford have been under severe and sustained pressure over the Christmas period and this challenging situation is likely to continue into the New Year bank holiday period.

“We have therefore have taken the decision to declare a critical incident. This allows us to be able to take additional steps to maintain safe services for our patients.

“We will always do our best for patients and keep patients safe, and locally we are working with our NHS and local authority partners to put in place measures to ensure that people who need hospital and emergency care can get treatment quickly and to identify and utilise any additional capacity to allow us to discharge patients and free up our beds."

He added: “As anticipated, the pressure is greatest in our emergency departments, who are facing on-going challenges as patients are unable to be admitted to beds with those patients arriving waiting in a queue to be seen.

“During this time the emergency departments will continue to see the sickest patients first, which will lead to long waits for longer than 12 hours for some patients.

“We continue to ask the public to help us by only using A&E in a serious or life-threatening emergency and for their help when we’re discharging their friends or loved ones to ensure they’re picked up from hospital as soon as possible and have everything they need at home.

“I would like to thank our staff for their ongoing efforts during this extremely challenging period and the public for their understanding and co-operation.”