Critical incidents declared in Somerset hospitals

It's as hospitals across the country experience huge pressure from an increase cases of flu

Author: Henry WinterPublished 9th Jan 2025

Yeovil District Hospital Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset have declared critical incidents.

It's as the number of people in hospital with flu in England continues to rise, with staff reporting they are under the same pressure as at the height of the Covid pandemic, the NHS medical director has said.

Data from NHS England shows there were an average of 5,408 flu patients in beds in England each day last week, including 256 in critical care.

This is up 21% from 4,469 the previous week, when 211 were in critical care.

It is also nearly five times the number on December 1, when the total stood at 1,098.

In a statement online Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said:

"We’re continuing to see an extremely high demand on our hospital services, particularly in our Emergency Departments at Yeovil Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital."

"Like many other hospitals in the region and across the country, we have seen a significant increase in the number of flu and respiratory illness cases.

"Colleagues and teams from across the trust have been working exceptionally hard to see and treat our patients as quickly as possible during times of huge demand.

"We are also working closely with our health and care partners to ensure that patients who are ready to leave hospital can be discharged, at the earliest opportunity."

What does this mean?

"Patient safety is our top priority and colleagues from across the trust are working together to ensure that we can continue to provide urgent and emergency care for all patients, and to keep as many routine services running as possible."

"Our Emergency Departments are extremely busy, if you can, please try to attend alone, as space is currently very limited in the waiting areas. Our colleagues are working hard to prioritise patients based on clinical need and for non-urgent cases, this will include longer waiting times in the Emergency Department and you may be re-directed to alternative healthcare services, such as NHS 111, our Urgent Treatment Centres, or you may be advised to contact your GP or visit a local pharmacy.

"We may also need to postpone some non-urgent, planned treatments and appointments. If we need to change any planned appointments we will try to give as much notice as possible, but on occasion, we may need to make some last-minute changes to planned procedures or appointments.

"If you have an appointment, please attend as planned. Please don’t call to check if your appointment is going ahead. We will contact you directly if we need to make any changes to your planned care.

"If you are visiting our sites and you have symptoms of flu, COVID-19 or RSV, please consider not visiting to help prevent the spread of winter illnesses to our vulnerable patients, and to our hard-working colleagues. If you do need to attend and have symptoms please wear a mask which can be found at the entrance to our sites. Masks are also available across our services for patients who wish to wear one."

Which service should I access?

"It is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk."

"For non-urgent care needs, we would encourage you to seek help from NHS 111, before attending our hospital sites. For more information on when to call 999 and when to go to A&E, you can also visit the NHS UK website."

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