Hospitals across the UK are experiencing a critical incident as this year’s flu season places the NHS under pressure. Warwick Hospital, run by South Warwickshire trust, has 375 beds, but at one point the predicted demand was almost 100 more than that. The hospital was forced to declare a critical incident – the highest alert level in the NHS – and redeploy doctors to create new temporary ward space. Other hospitals are experiencing similar crises.
The situation is dire. Emergency departments are overflowing, and patients are being treated in chairs and ambulances for hours before they can even be admitted. Beds are at a premium, forcing doctors to make difficult decisions on who can safely be moved. Porters have to wheel beds through open corridors between patients being treated in chairs. Nurses are even taking patients still attached to drip poles to the toilet in wheelchairs.
BBC News was present at Warwick Hospital over a two-day period, and staff explained how they had to find stop-gap solutions to treat patients in whatever safe settings could be established. Doctors and nurses in emergency departments across the country are having similar conversations.
The flu season has also affected the typical patient’s situation, many of whom are sicker than usual. The people who come in for treatment are sicker than ever, explained Dr. Raj Paw, a senior consultant in the emergency department at Warwick Hospital.”We’re trying to get them out quicker” he says, recognizing that the incident is the worst he has ever seen it. South Warwickshire Trust has since lifted Tuesday’s critical incident declaration – however, staff say that they still face a similar level of pressure
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