Chesterfield Royal Hospital staff facing their busiest winter yet
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Trust declared a critical incident on New Year's Day
Chesterfield Royal Hospital is one of many across the country facing extreme and sustained amounts of pressure this winter.
On New Year's Day, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Trust declared a critical incident. The Trust saw new levels of demand for services during the Christmas bank holiday period and this has continued with pressure on services rising.
Katherine Lendrum is the A&E clinical lead, she said: "I've worked at Chesterfield for 21 years, and this has to be the busiest winter we've had yet. The number of patients seeking our support, and help has just climbed massively, and that has put a huge strain on our resources.
"I think I would ask the public just to consider if they do have an emergency, that needs managing now. Can they phone somebody for advice? Can they phone 111? Can they contact their own GP and wait for their appointment instead of using an emergency department?
"There is no good time to visit. We are even busier sometimes at the evening and at night than we are during the day. Although I respect that there are less options, there are still some options out of hours. Contact people and consider not using an emergency department."
Dr Peter Scriven is a GP at Chesterfield's Royal Primary Care, he told us why the hospital may be seeing an increase in pressure: "We've got a rebound increase in coughs, colds and sore throats, because we've had two years of relative lockdowns.
"We are seeing more minor illness, and if there's more minor illness, there's going to be more people who are significantly unwell and do need attention. The demand has increased but I do think we've still got room to maneuver our resources around and help folk."
Dr Scriven says those with life threatening emergencies will receive the treatment they need, and despite current pressures, GP's will always do their job and correctly refer patients: "We will always make a clinical decision. If we feel somebody needs to be reviewed by the hospital, we will speak to our hospital colleagues and determine what the best route is.
"Our skills are managing those people who don't need to go into hospital, we will admit at the same rate that we need to, because we've always admitted on clinical need."
Chesterfield Royal Hospital Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Zoe Notley says they are doing all they can to deal with the added pressures: "We've had to cancel some non-urgent planned operations and out patients appointments, to enable our clinical teams to be in the emergency department, seeing patients, turning them round quickly and keeping the department safe."
She then adds: "I'm really humbled by our work force, and I continue to be absolutely blown away by the commitment, dedication and resilience that thew teams just continue to show."
The government say they are funding an extra £50 million into expanding and upgrading hospitals, and their top priority is reducing waiting lists.