Multiple hospitals across England have declared critical incidents amid a soaring number of patients being admitted with flu and other respiratory illnesses.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was “genuinely distressed and ashamed” by the situation faced by patients and staff as the highest alert level was sounded at least 11 hospitals due to high demands in emergency departments.
The UK’s chief emergency doctor, Adrian Boyle, told The Independent that the flu outbreak had “severe consequences” for already overwhelmed hospitals, while the NHS’s top doctor, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said the demand showed “no signs of letting up”.
The rising pressure on wards was also having an impact on waiting times, with a patient at one hospital forced to wait 50 hours.
On Tuesday, Royal Liverpool University Hospital declared a critical incident, followed by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke and Winchester hospitals, and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, which runs Derriford Hospital.
Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs Queen Elizabeth, Solihull, Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals, and NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board, which oversees Northampton and Kettering hospitals, also declared the alert level.
A critical incident declared on Friday by NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, which runs Royal Cornwall Hospital, continues.
A number of other NHS trusts – including East Kent Hospitals, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals – said their emergency departments were extremely busy and urged people to stay away.
Speaking on LBC Radio, Mr Streeting said: “I feel genuinely distressed and ashamed, actually, of some of the things that patients are experiencing and I know that the staff of the NHS and social care services feel the same.
“They go to work, they slog their guts out, and it’s very distressing for them seeing people in this condition as well.
The health secretary, who said an emergency reform plan would be published shortly, added: “We’ve got this extraordinary pressure on flu where we’ve got between three and four times as many hospital beds taken up with flu cases this year than we did this time last year.
“Even so, annual winter pressures should not lead to an annual winter crisis.”
Dr Boyle said most A&E departments around the country were now close to capacity.
