Critical incident declared at Northamptonshire hospitals

The NHS in Northamptonshire has seen a high demand for services since the start of the year.

Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust said in their statement:

"We are seeing high levels of admissions and attendances at Accident and Emergency at both Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital. Many of our patients are attending due to respiratory conditions which is to be expected at this time of year. As a consequence we are seeing a large rise in demand for our services at the moment. Attendances at A&E are high as are emergency admissions."

Dr Imogen Staveley, Interim Chief Medical Officer at NHS Northamptonshire ICB went on to say:

“This is an exceptional situation and we are doing everything in partnership across the NHS and Social Care to resolve it. I would ask patients to assist the NHS by choosing which service to access when they are unwell, only call 999 in a true emergency and to access alternative services where possible. We assure the public that all emergency services remain open and available whilst we discharge patients from hospital to the most appropriate setting for their ongoing care.”

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.