Hospital has brought in emergency measures to deal with ‘exceptionally high demand’ – this is how it will impact patients and staff
An ambulance outside the Royal Liverpool Hospital(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)
The Royal Liverpool Hospital has today declared a critical incident as it struggles to cope with ‘exceptionally high levels of demand’ on its emergency department and wards.
On Monday, the ECHO reported that the Royal had activated its full capacity protocol due to the huge numbers of people coming into A&E and the struggle to discharge people to create space. The hospital, like many in our region, is facing huge pressures from soaring rates of flu and other respiratory illnesses. This has now been escalated to a critical incident.
So what does this mean for the hospital and for the people of Liverpool? The NHS definition of a critical incident is any localised incident where the level of disruption results in the organisation temporarily or permanently losing its ability to deliver critical services, patients may have been harmed or the environment is not safe requiring special measures and support from other agencies, to restore normal operating functions.
An all staff note sent to those working at the hospital was revealed on social media by Sunday Times reporter Shaun Lintern. The note adds more details about what the declaration of the critical incident will mean for how the hospital is operated.
The note states that the critical incident has been declared despite the hospital opening escalation areas and says the function is used to help ensure that the hospital can continue to deliver care for patients.
It then details a number of emergency actions that have been agreed. This includes reducing non-essential surgery where possible, prioritising critical care and reviewing what non-essential meetings, administration and educational activities can be stood down to allow colleagues to be deployed to the emergency department and onto wards.
Other measures will include bringing in support from the Broadgreen Hospital site, a sister hospital for The Royal, which can provide extra capacity to support admissions and the review of the allocation of corporate clinical staff to support patient care.
The notice also carries a message to under-pressure staff who are dealing with the huge pressures, stating: “I know the incredible efforts colleagues are making to provide the best possible care to patients in these exceptional circumstances and understand this has an impact on colleagues’ wellbeing.”
In its statement, the University Hospitals of Liverpool said: ““Given the exceptionally high demands on our emergency department, especially with flu and respiratory illnesses, and the number of patients we have taken this action to support the safe care and treatment of our patients, which is our absolute priority.
“We have a comprehensive plan in place and are taking all the necessary actions to manage the challenging circumstances facing patients and colleagues currently. We are working with partner organisations to ensure those that are medically fit can leave hospital safely and at the earliest opportunity.
“Colleagues are working incredibly hard to treat people as quickly as possible, however some people will experience longer waits while we treat our sickest patients.
“If it is not a medical emergency please consider using other services, such as your GP, local pharmacy or walk-in centre. The NHS 111 service can be used to help identify the most appropriate service for you and help avoid long waits.”
“We have seen an increasing number of people with flu and respiratory illnesses in our emergency departments in recent weeks. If you are attending our EDs, patients and visitors should follow some additional infection control measures to help curb the spread of winter viruses such as flu and norovirus. This includes practicing good hand hygiene, only visiting the areas they need to in our hospitals and wearing masks in clinical areas if asked to do so.”