Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust declares critical incident

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) has declared a critical incident due to the pressures it is facing.

A critical incident allows all health and care organisations to work together and focus on resolving the situation.

The trust reported up to 100 people were waiting to be seen in the emergency department on Wednesday, with 25 ambulances waiting outside.

Managers contacted staff asking them to work extra hours to help handle "intense pressures".

The trust said the emergency department is designed to accommodate up to 40 people at any one time.

Speaking on behalf of the NHS in Cornwall, RCHT medical director, Dr Allister Grant said: "There is unprecedented demand on health and care services in Cornwall, more so this week than at any point during the pandemic. 

"As a result, we have escalated our operational level from OPEL4 to an internal critical incident.

"Pressure will always be most visible at the Emergency Department where ambulances are waiting, and our priority here is to move people into wards as soon as we can."

As part of the response, NHS staff are working in care homes where beds are available for patients, but there is a shortage of workers.

Dr Grant added: "Families, friends and neighbours are urged to help us, too, by offering to support someone waiting for home care to leave hospital sooner, and we would ask them to contact the ward directly if they can help in any way.

"Getting someone home a day or two sooner will mean we can free up a vital hospital bed for someone else in urgent need."

Analysis: Tamsin Melville, BBC Spotlight

There have been recent repeated warnings about the pressures on the Emergency Department at Treliske, and on the ambulance service.

Last night the trust issued an urgent plea to staff asking if anybody could come in and work extra hours.

BBC Spotlight has been contacted by people including one woman who said she counted up to 33 ambulances here on Tuesday night and she was with an 84-year-old who waited for 10 and a half hours in an ambulance.

The trust said that on Wednesday there were 120 people in beds in its wards that could have been discharged out into the community but the care simply wasn't there.

This obviously leads to a build up in pressure within the whole system and the visible manifestation of that is ambulances queuing outside.

Will Warrender, CEO of SWAS, said the service was under "the most sustained period of pressure in its history", adding "the situation today is no better than it was in September".

All planned and urgent surgeries were temporarily suspended at RCHT in September due to the pressure it was under.

Routine surgeries remain suspended, with urgent procedures reviewed daily and continuing where possible.

The trust said on Thursday it was treating 44 patients with Covid-19 - 10 more than the previous week.