High demand drives Norfolk and Norwich hospital’s move to highest alert level

A sustained increased pressure on services has led the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to move to its highest alert level.

A spokesperson at the hospital said there was high demand at A&E and many staff were working on the Covid-19 booster programme.

It is also understood the hospital has cancelled all meetings and training in order to mobilise staff and that they have moved into Opel (Operational Pressures Escalation Levels) 4, meaning demand within the hospital has reached a level in which it is unable to deliver comprehensive care.

The spokesperson added that staff at the hospital were “also working hard to catch up on planned operations and procedures, as well as stepping up to do our bit to help accelerate the Covid-19 vaccination programme”.

Data showed that in November, 67.9 per cent of A&E patients at the hospital were seen within four hours.  Nationally, the NHS aims to ensure that 95 per cent of patients are seen within this time frame.  In the same month, a patient died from a cardiac arrest while waiting in an ambulance outside the hospital’s emergency department.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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