{"id":406879,"date":"2026-01-13T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/406879\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T18:07:10","slug":"four-nhs-trusts-in-england-declare-critical-incidents-after-surge-in-ae-admissions-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/406879\/","title":{"rendered":"Four NHS trusts in England declare critical incidents after \u2018surge\u2019 in A&E admissions | NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four NHS<\/a> hospital trusts in England have declared critical incidents after a \u201csurge\u201d in A&E admissions driven in large part by patients with flu, norovirus and respiratory viruses.<\/p>\n

Three trusts in Surrey and one in Kent sounded the alarm after a \u201csurge in complex attendances to A&E departments\u201d.<\/p>\n

A critical incident, which is usually declared when A&E departments are not able to necessarily deliver all of their services safely, is the highest alert level used by the NHS and allows bosses to take immediate steps to create capacity.<\/p>\n

NHS Surrey Heartlands said<\/a> the situation at three hospital trusts \u2013 Royal Surrey NHS foundation trust, Epsom and St Helier university hospitals NHS trust and Surrey and Sussex healthcare NHS trust \u2013 was \u201cexacerbated by increases in flu and norovirus cases and an increase in staff sickness\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added that the \u201crecent cold weather front has also impacted on more frail patients needing to be admitted to hospital\u201d.<\/p>\n

East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust declared a critical incident<\/a> at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital (QEQM) due to \u201csignificant and rising demand for hospital care\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said its hospitals were \u201cexperiencing exceptionally high demand, driven by a continued high admission rate and a large number of patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses\u201d.<\/p>\n

This has resulted in beds across its hospitals being at full capacity and, due to high attendance at A&E, \u201cthere is very limited capacity to admit further patients who need acute care\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Charlotte Canniff, the joint chief medical officer of NHS Surrey Heartlands, said: \u201cDue to extreme pressures, today hospitals and the ICB in Surrey Heartlands have taken the decision to escalate to a critical incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams continue to work exceptionally hard and we would like to reassure patients and the public that despite the challenges faced and some changes to non-urgent appointments, essential services remain fully open for anyone who needs them so if you do require urgent medical help, please continue to come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Hayes, at East Kent hospitals, said: \u201cOur teams are working tirelessly under immense pressure to provide safe, compassionate care to every patient who comes through our doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing everything possible to increase capacity for urgent and emergency care and would like to thank our staff, patients, and the public for their continued support, understanding and patience during this challenging period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that anyone who needs urgent medical help continues to come forward, using 999 in life-threatening emergencies and 111 for other urgent care. Anyone who is unsure about where to go should call the NHS on 111, or visit 111.nhs.uk for advice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four NHS hospital trusts in England have declared critical incidents after a \u201csurge\u201d in A&E admissions driven in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-406879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}