Critical incident declared at 'full' Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth

Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham has confirmed a critical incident as all beds and escalation capacity are full with patients admitted to hospital – with no space for emergency treatment. The hospital has also reported record numbers of attendances to the emergency department, both by ambulance and patients walking in.

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Dr John Knighton, medical director at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said: ‘The Emergency Department is full of patients requiring admission to the hospital resulting in long delays for patients arriving by ambulance.

‘The length of delays being experienced and the lack of capacity to treat emergencies puts patient safety at significant risk. That is why we have declared a critical incident today - to prioritise emergency capacity for the treatment of emergency patients only.

‘We apologise for the delays accessing urgent services, but rest assured we are doing everything in our power to meet the need.’

As previously reported in The News, Hampshire NHS services are facing their most difficult winter on record amid ‘significant’ pressure and a huge rise in demand, with GP practices are experiencing three times their usual level of demand in relation to the outbreak of Strep A.

Leader of Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, feared the NHS was ‘coming apart at the seams’.

Dr Knighton added: ‘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 cannot be seen and we advise people to visit NHS 111 online.’

The NHS trust will be reviewing the situation regularly and thanks the community for its support during this difficult and busy time.