Derbyshire health and care system declares critical incident – with ‘exceptionally busy’ services causing ‘extreme’ pressure

The Derbyshire health and care system has declared a critical incident, with its services exceptionally busy and pressure reaching new levels over the last 24 hours.

An increased number of patients are arriving at hospital by ambulance. There are also extended waiting times for patients to access beds in Derbyshire’s hospitals following arrival in emergency departments, and difficulties discharging patients due to lack of capacity across the community care sector.

An NHS spokesperson said that plans are in place for periods of heightened pressure, but added that “our ability to continue to find solutions is being tested to extreme levels.”

Health and care services continue to work together to resolve the situation. Measures taken to help manage and alleviate pressure include:

Maximising all available and appropriate hospital capacity to provide beds in which to care for patients.

Taking additional steps to release patients from the care of ambulance crews to enable them to get back on the road to see the next patient, including extra capacity in ED and extra consultants on hand to assess the clinical needs of patients on arrival – with the aim of turning crews around in no more than 15 minutes from arrival.

Diverting all clinically-trained staff to provide direct care and support, and cancelling all non-essential training.

Opening more than 40 additional community-based beds to support discharge from acute hospitals.

Staff will continue to prioritise patients in order of clinical need to ensure they can continue to manage emergency care, and are working hard to protect planned appointments and operations for patients who have an urgent need or have already waited a long time for their procedure. If you are not contacted directly, please continue to attend your appointment for all services and continue to call 999 where there is a threat to life.

Patients and the public were reassured that, despite the current challenges, the NHS remains open for care. They are, however, being urged to think carefully about where is best to go for the help they need.

If you need urgent medical care but are not in an emergency, please visit NHS 111 online or call NHS111 for advice on how to get the care you need at any time.

Please only call 999 or attend A&E for serious accidents and emergencies. The average time for arrival to discharge in some A&E departments is currently around eight hours.

Wait times in urgent care centres are around two hours. Urgent treatment centres – like the ones at Florence Nightingale, Ilkeston, Ripley, Samuel Johnson and Robert Peel Community Hospitals – can help you get the care you need for the most common issues that people attend A&E for. They will often be able to help you get the care you need more quickly than accident and emergency departments if you are suffering from things like a burn or a sprain.

For other non-urgent cases where you need medical advice, please speak to a pharmacist.

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Please work with hospital teams to support the discharge of friends and relatives. Having your loved ones' homes ready, with food in the fridge, the heating on and someone available to meet the transport crew on arrival to get them settled, can help get patients home once they are medically fit – and release transport crews to provide a service for the next patient.

If you cannot make any NHS appointment, please contact the number on your appointment letter so that it can be reallocated to another patient.

An NHS spokesperson added: “Please continue to treat all NHS and care staff with the respect they deserve. Our hard-working staff and volunteers are doing all they can to keep patients safe and supported.”

Members of the GMB trade union at the East Midlands Ambulance Service are on strike today – including frontline ambulance crews, control room staff and non-emergency transport workers.

EMAS predicted that up to 50% of their employees could take industrial action between 6.00am this morning and 6.00am on Thursday, December 22 – and warned of ‘much slower’ response times.