Sussex Ambulance Trust declares critical incident after ‘extreme pressure’ Brighton News

“Our staff are working extremely hard to respond to calls and manage the situation and we continue to prioritize patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses,” a SCAS spokeswoman said.

“Declaring a critical incident means we are able to focus our resources on the patients who need them most and communicate the pressure we are under to our patients and our health system partners. »

The service, which covers seven million people in Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey, has asked the community to only call 999 in a serious emergency or life threatening.

Mark Ainsworth, SCAS Director of Operations, said: “We declared a critical incident in the early hours of the morning due to extreme pressure on our services.

“This was related to the level of demand with a large number of calls received throughout the day and into the night and increased challenges in releasing some of our ambulances from busy acute hospitals.

“That then impacts our ability to get teams back on the road to respond to patients.

“Our staff and volunteers continue to work extremely hard to respond to calls and incidents and we continue to prioritize patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

“For some patients whose situation is not a life-threatening or serious emergency, we have discussed their needs, given them advice and urged them to get to the hospital on their own if they have not no need for emergency ambulance intervention.

“Declaring a critical incident means we are able to focus our resources on the patients who need them most and communicate the pressures we are facing to our patients and health system partners who can provide support.

“We are asking people to help us at this time by using our services wisely and also using other healthcare alternatives, including 111.nhs.uk for urgent medical advice and advice where possible. possible and appropriate to do so.”