Three city hospitals are experiencing big demand for their services and are ‘overcrowded’ with much longer wait times than usual
The four University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust’s hospitals (clockwise from top left) Queen Elizabeth, Good Hope, Solihull and Heartlands
A critical incident has been declared at the Trust responsible for three Birmingham hospitals and another in Solihull – leading to huge A&E wait times.
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said its hospitals were under ‘extreme pressure’ due to demand at its emergency departments, which were ‘overcrowded’, and for beds. It declared the critical incident at 6pm yesterday, Monday, December 8.
The hospitals affected are the Queen Elizabeth in Selly Oak, Heartlands in Bordesley Green, Good Hope in Sutton Coldfield and Solihull Hospital too.
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A&E wait times were said to be nine hours and 33 minutes at Heartlands, seven hours and 29 minutes at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and five hours and 16 minutes at Good Hope as of 9.55am today, Tuesday, December 9.
Wait times were lower at Solihull Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre – 46 minutes.
The spike in demand was, in part, caused by an influx of patients with flu, with ‘exceptional numbers’ now reaching 269 inpatients across all sites with the debilitating infection.
The Trust urged patients to think where they go for treatment, with A&E only for serious or life-threatening conditions.
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital(Image: Jonathan Hipkiss/Birmingham Mail)
In a post on each of the hospitals’ social media pages it said: “Urgent message for local patients.❗
“Due to the extreme pressures in our emergency department, demand for beds and numbers of patients with flu, we have declared a critical incident.
“Please consider other services for any minor healthcare needs.
Urgent Treatment Centres – accessed via NHS111;Pharmacy First – local pharmacies can provide advice, guidance and medication for common conditions;NHS111 – phone or go online to be directed to the best place for you; andGP Practice.”
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The Trust added: “Despite expanding capacity in our wards and in our emergency departments, our emergency departments (A&Es) remain overcrowded with extended waits to be seen.
“We are asking the communities we serve to think carefully about how they access healthcare.
“If you do not have an emergency or life-threatening condition you may be redirected to another healthcare service such as a pharmacy or NHS 111.”
Mask-wearing is now taking place in all clinical departments to help reduce the spread of flu. Patients were advised to continue to go to planned appointments as normal unless they were told otherwise.