NHS Sussex declares critical incident

A critical incident has been declared across health services in Sussex.

NHS Sussex said the announcement had been made to ensure local people continue to get safe and high quality care over the New Year period.

In a statement issued on its website, the Trust said:

"We are currently seeing very high numbers of people needing care in A&E departments, calling NHS 111, accessing GP services and calling 999, and we are also seeing increasing numbers of people being hospitalised with flu and Covid, alongside high levels of staff sickness.

"This is all putting significant demand on services, meaning patients are waiting longer than we would like to be seen and treated."

"Declaring a critical incident allows us to take additional steps to the way services are managed so we can maintain safety for our patients and help staff manage the growing pressures we are experiencing.

"This includes focusing workforce on areas where most needed, asking some staff to come back from annual leave to work, and using all capacity possible across the health system."

The Trust said some non-urgent operations, treatments and outpatient appointments would need to be rescheduled to accommodate those patients with the most urgent clinical need.

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