Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust declares new critical incident
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has declared a new critical incident, the second in less than a week.
The trust says the latest incident was declared as both the Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital continue to experience intense pressure due to the exceptionally high levels of demand for services, as well as the ongoing impacts from COVID-19.
The trust said it is also continuing to experience issues in discharging medically fit patients due to capacity issues within the local care sector.
In a statement the trust said:
"Despite us taking every available option to free up capacity and create additional space, we need to ensure we can continue to prioritise our services and so we have declared a new critical incident. This means that we are pausing a very limited number of non-urgent services to allow us to meet the most urgent needs of those we care for.
"Urgent services, including cancer, and time-critical procedures will continue, and we will contact patients directly who may be affected by delays to non-urgent treatment or postponed appointments. If you have an appointment in our hospitals but have not been contacted, please continue to attend your appointment as before. Any postponed procedures or appointments will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
"We are very sorry for those impacted by this and we would like to assure you that, despite the challenges faced and some changes to non-urgent appointments, essential services remain fully open for anyone who needs them so if you require urgent medical help, please continue to come forward.
"We would ask that you also continue to help us where you can by ensuring that you are seeking help from the most appropriate health services, and only attending A&E for serious accidents and emergencies. If you are unwell, visit NHS 111 online for 24/7 advice about the most appropriate care for your need."
