Numerous patients, including people with serious illnesses, have reportedly been left waiting for hours in overcrowded areas at Salisbury District Hospital after a critical incident was declared.
Patients attending the hospital on Wednesday, 9 September, have described lengthy delays as staff attempt to deal with significant pressure across emergency and acute services.
Some patients are understood to have waited more than four hours without being seen by a doctor, while concerns have been raised about the number of people waiting and the availability of beds.
The pressure was also evident on the hospital’s Acute Medical Unit (AMU), where witnesses reported seeing the nurse in charge blow a whistle in an apparent attempt to gain the attention of staff during the busy period.
It is not currently known why the whistle was used or whether it forms part of the hospital’s established escalation procedures.
Some of those waiting are understood to have serious and complex medical conditions, raising concerns about the impact of prolonged delays on vulnerable patients.
The hospital declared a critical incident as it attempted to manage the exceptional pressures facing its services.
A critical incident is a significant NHS escalation measure which can be used when pressures threaten an organisation’s ability to maintain services safely and additional action or assistance is required.
The four-hour A&E standard measures the period between a patient’s arrival and their admission, transfer or discharge. It does not mean that every patient must be seen by a doctor within four hours.
However, reports of numerous patients experiencing prolonged waits come at a time when Salisbury District Hospital, operated by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, is also facing regulatory scrutiny following inspection activity by the Care Quality Commission.
UKNIP has approached the Trust for an urgent statement and asked it to confirm when the critical incident was declared, what prompted the escalation and the extent of the pressures currently affecting the hospital.
The Trust has also been asked about waiting times, staffing and bed capacity, ambulance handover delays and what measures are being taken to maintain patient safety.
UKNIP has additionally asked the Trust to explain the circumstances in which a whistle was reportedly used by the nurse in charge on AMU and whether this is part of an established procedure for communicating with staff during periods of significant pressure.
This is a developing story and will be updated when Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust responds.
