Dr Charlotte Canniff, joint chief medical officer of NHS Surrey Heartlands, said declaring a critical incident allowed trusts to take additional steps to maintain safe services for patients and “help us cope with the growing pressures”.
“Unfortunately, this means local organisations may need to reschedule some non-urgent operations, treatments and outpatient appointments to accommodate those patients with the most urgent clinical need,” she said.
“People should attend appointments unless they are contacted; cancer and our other most urgent operations continue to be prioritised.”
In Kent, the trust said its hospitals were experiencing “exceptionally high demand, driven by a continued high admission rate and a large number of patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses”.
“Beds across our hospitals are currently full and attendance at our emergency departments is extremely high, meaning there is very limited capacity to admit further patients who need acute care,” it added.
“Attending our emergency departments for non-life-threatening conditions will result in an extremely long wait. If you need medical assistance, please consider using alternative services.”