Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth declares critical incident with all beds occupied and A&E at capacity

Due to ‘extreme pressures’ on services across the hospital, and an ‘increasingly challenging staffing position’ as a result of sickness, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) will only treat those with life threatening conditions and injuries.

The declaration of the incident means the provision of critical, emergency services will be prioritised.

A statement on the PHU website said: ‘The safety of our patients and our staff remains our top priority.

‘Our beds are full and our emergency department (ED) remains full with patients requiring admission. We have limited space to treat emergency patients and we are only able to treat patients with life threatening conditions and injuries.

‘Please do not attend the ED unless it’s an emergency. Non-emergency attendances will not be seen and will be redirected to the urgent treatment centres at St Mary’s Hospital, Gosport and Petersfield.

‘Do not call 999 unless it is a serious or life-threatening emergency as the ambulance service is also under intense pressure and operating under a critical incident.’

Today (April 6) the South Central Ambulance Service, which covers Portsmouth, also declared a critical incident – saying it could only attend life-threatening situations.

It comes as The News reported how QA was facing severe difficulties, with around 600 staff off sick on one day.

City council leader Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson said there were issues where ambulances were unable to transfer patients in the emergency department, on April 4, with a combined wait time of 108 hours.

And it has been confirmed almost every hospital bed across Hampshire and Isle of Wight is full, with more than 650 people with Covid cared for in hospitals across the region – more than two and a half times higher than in early January during the peak of winter

More than 2,800 staff working for Hampshire NHS organisations are off sick – with almost half of sickness absences due to Covid-19

The PHU statement added: ‘Our immediate priority is to ensure there are beds available to admit our most seriously ill patients into and 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 will be reviewing the situation regularly and thank you for all your support during this difficult and busy time.’