Hospitals' two-day critical incident stood down

A TWO-DAY critical incident has been stood down at Nottingham’s hospitals but the demand for beds remains "extremely high”.

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Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, declared the incident on Tuesday, stating it was “experiencing pressures like never before”.

More than 500 patients were coming through the emergency department every day - despite it being set up to handle 350 patients over a 24-hour period, according to the trust.

On the busiest day of the year so far Wednesday, January 7, the number of patients rose to 550.

A critical incident is declared when the level of pressure results in a local NHS organisation temporarily or permanently losing its ability to deliver critical services.