Hospitals face high demand for emergency services

Two hospitals have said they are experiencing "high demand" for emergency services.

Kettering and Northampton hospitals announced the increased pressure on social media on Tuesday and a spokesperson said they were still experiencing a spike in patients.

Earlier this month, both hospitals declared a critical incident - meaning there was mounting pressure on health services which were at full capacity.

"We urge local people not to attend our emergency departments at this time if their concerns can be dealt with by other local health services," said Hemant Nemade, the group medical director for University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group.

"If you have a relative in hospital who is ready to go home please help us to support their discharge as soon as possible and enable beds to be freed up for those who are seriously ill."

The hospitals have also declared an internal incident, indicating significant service disruption that impacts operations but is less severe than a critical incident.

Mr Nemade added: "Declaring an incident assists us in taking escalated internal actions with the support of our partners to address the key concerns caused by demand pressures."

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