Critical incident declared at Portsmouth's QA Hospital
Bosses are warning of extreme pressures on services
A critical incident has been declared at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth due to extreme pressures linked to the weather and staffing issues.
The Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) which runs the site in Cosham, has said the site is facing an 'increasingly challenging staffing position' as a result of sickness, along with high temperatures recorded on Monday (July 11th).
The focus will now be on critical, emergency services with people being reminded to only go at A and E departments if absolutely necessary.
Dr John Knighton, Medical Director at PHU said:
“We need the local community to help us by helping patients get home as soon as possible and only using the Emergency Department for life threatening conditions and injuries.
“Our immediate priority is to ensure there are beds available for our most seriously ill patients and we will be focusing on safely discharging as many patients as possible. We ask that families and loved ones support us with this and collect patients as soon as they are ready to be discharged.
“We also urge you to not attend the ED unless it’s an emergency. Non-emergency attendances will not be seen and you will be redirected to the Urgent Treatment Centres at St Mary’s Hospital, Gosport and Petersfield. We have limited space and we are only able to treat patients with life threatening conditions and injuries.”