Wirral NHS Trust declares 'internal critical incident'

Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it was monitoring demand but “non-urgent and cancer activity” is being cancelled as a result.

An email sent to staff at Arrowe Park Hospital that was sent to the Local Democracy Reporting Service said there would be a number of changes "to maintain the safety of patients in the Emergency Department," adding: "Due to the ongoing unprecedented demand, more than we have experienced in any winter period, we have taken the decision to declare an internal critical incident.

"This is to ensure patient safety is maintained as we manage the volume and presentation of patients on an acute pathway.”

While the email referred to an "internal critical incident” being declared, the LDRS understands this is not as severe as declaring a public critical incident. Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it was a “business continuity incident” which is an event that disrupts or could disrupt an organisation’s normal service delivery with steps put in place to manage the disruption.

The email said: “While there have been additional steps taken over the last 36 hours to manage this increase in demand, acute patients continue to present at the Emergency Department front door and via ambulance. We have implemented some important changes to ensure our most urgent patients are prioritised.”

Staff were asked to produce a rota for each division in the hospital and “cancelling any non-urgent or cancer activity to maximise the number of staff we have available.” Teaching and training is being postponed in areas where additional staff are needed while a “Leaders in Touch” event has been cancelled.

The email said there were “very difficult decisions and are made in the best interests of our patients who need emergency care.”

A Wirral University Teaching Hospital spokesperson said: “Patient safety is the top priority of the Trust and we are consistently monitoring the level of demand across our hospital. There have been extremely high levels of people attending our Emergency Department over the last week who are in need of urgent care and therefore a range of measures have been implemented to ensure those patients are seen as early as possible.

“We have systems in place to ensure patient safety and a Business Continuity Incident was raised this week which may impact some services in order to focus on patients in need of emergency care.

“At this busy time, we would ask members of the public for their assistance. For patients who do not have an emergency, we would ask them to contact 111 in the first instance, or visit an Urgent Treatment Centre, a Walk-in Centre, GP, or pharmacist.”

Concerns continue to be raised about the current situation in Wirral’s NHS services in Wirral Council including moving people out of hospital and back into their own home or other care. During a full council meeting on October 7, Cllr Phil Gilchrist asked what steps were needed for the council to respond to “growing pressures.”

In response, adult health committee chair Julie McManus said: “The hospital has been under pressure with a lot of poorly people and Wirral Council has been doing everything it can to ensure timely and effective discharge of our residents.” She said the local authority had shown leadership on the issue and had set up a number of services and a new hub for transfers.

She called for more NHS funding to deal with winter pressures, adding: “All our services have seen a significant and marked increase in demand and this simply draws on resources we just don’t have and places the council’s finances in a very difficult position. Going into the winter, we need government departments to support continuing health care for people to recover in the right settings.”