'Tough' bank holidays spark Plymouth hospital 'critical incident'

Plymouth's Derriford Hospital has declared a critical incident after a "tough" period over Christmas and new year, a leaked email has revealed.

The University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust's email said it had about 500 Covid-19 related staff absences and was no longer able to offload ambulances.

Bosses are now looking to speed-up discharging patients to free up beds.

The trust said it was reacting to high pressure on urgent care services and increasing demand for Covid beds.

The email, seen by the BBC, said it had been "a double bank holiday period which is always tough".

It also said the hospital was "no longer able to offload ambulances" and had 15 outside the Emergency Department on Tuesday morning.

Staff absence remained a "significant challenge", the email added, but had "not deteriorated and is still sitting around 475 for Covid-related absence and 480 for non-Covid-related absence".

The hospital had also seen "a small increase in Covid inpatient numbers and have maintained or reduced the numbers of wards closed or restricted".

Nationally, at least seven hospital have declared critical incidents in the past week.

Incidents are declared when bosses are worried they are on the brink of not being able to provide critical services, such as emergency care.

It means that staff can be redeployed to focus on priorities.

The Derriford email said it was considering moves such as cancelling all non-clinical meetings, cancelling study leave and speeding up discharges.

Trust chief operating officer Jo Beer said in a statement on the trust's website that staff "don't want people to be alarmed" by the move.

She said: "We took the decision to escalate to the highest level of internal incident because this allows us to be able to take additional steps to maintain safe services for our patients and help us cope with the growing pressures."

She said people should "be assured we are still here for you, if need us, in an emergency".

Ms Beer said the trust had 99 Covid-positive patients in Derriford and its three community hospitals.

The NHS in Devon told the BBC in December that forecasts had suggested a peak in Covid cases and patients was expected in the middle of January.

It is the second time in less than five months that Derriford has declared a major incident.

The previous occasion was last August after 97% of beds were occupied.

An increase in Covid-19 admissions and a greater demand on the Emergency Department were partly to blame, managers said at the time.

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