Overview
- Nottingham University Hospitals declared a critical incident, reporting more than 500 daily attendances at Queen’s Medical Centre A&E despite capacity for about 350, with the busiest day hitting 550 patients.
- Sherwood Forest Hospitals in Nottinghamshire also declared a critical incident, citing sustained pressure and insufficient discharges to meet demand for beds.
- Earlier, three Surrey trusts — Royal Surrey, Epsom and St Helier, and Surrey and Sussex — and East Kent’s Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital escalated to critical incidents due to surging winter illness and high admissions.
- Trusts warned they may postpone some non-urgent operations and outpatient appointments, redeploy staff and curtail non-essential activity, with some beds and wards closed because of flu and norovirus outbreaks.
- National indicators show around 2,900 flu patients in hospital each day, bed occupancy near 92% and a sharp rise in ambulance handover delays, as NHS leaders caution the winter strain is not over.