"Critical incident" declared at East Midlands Ambulance Service - with Lincolnshire public urged to "seek alternative care"
A critical incident has been declared at East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) – with the public urged to “seek alternative care” if their condition is not life-threatening.
The declaration, which came at 2.30pm on Saturday, June 27, follows a period of sustained pressure on ambulance services across the country – with added challenges brought by the recent heatwave.
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “Over the past 24 hours, EMAS has experienced a significant increase in demand for its services, alongside ongoing pressure within the wider NHS, and the additional challenges created by this week’s extreme heat. These factors have combined to create a situation that has led to this level of escalation.
“In response, EMAS continues to work closely with NHS partners to help reduce risk to patients and maintain emergency ambulance availability.”
Actions include:
• Working with hospitals to support the timely handover of patients so ambulance crews can return to responding to 999 calls.
• Working with healthcare providers to direct patients to the most appropriate care for their needs when it’s not a life-threatening emergency.
• Continuing to prioritise their response to the most life-threatening and serious incidents.
Like many across the NHS, EMAS says its colleagues have been “working tirelessly” to respond to patient need.
"All available internal actions to mitigate risk have been taken,” the spokesperson continued. “Therefore, a critical incident has been declared to secure additional support and help reduce the risk of avoidable patient harm.
“The public is asked to help by using NHS services wisely and by taking regular medication to manage long-term conditions. If your illness or injury is not immediately life-threatening, please seek alternative care via a pharmacy, urgent treatment centre, or general practitioner (including out of hours services) – visit the NHS website for services near you.
“Given the additional weather-related pressures being responded to, please act responsibly and do not take unnecessary risks.”
The Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response framework describes a critical incident as “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 functions”.