Four in ten England hospitals declare major alert as NHS crumbles under mounting pressure
Around 66 out of 152 trusts issued operational pressure alerts due to a shortage of beds and overwhelmed A&E departments
FOUR in ten English hospitals declared a major alert this week as the NHS crumbles under mounting pressure.
Around 66 out of 152 trusts issued operational pressure alerts due to a shortage of beds and overwhelmed A&E departments.
Overall, NHS hospitals issued 226 serious alerts in six days after experiencing major pressures.
This is more than six times higher than the number of alerts issued over the previous six days.
A total of 25 trusts issued major alerts every day between January 3 and 8.
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The number of major alerts - previously called red and black alerts - is the highest of the winter.
The eight trusts that issued a level 4 were University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Of Leicester NHS Trust, University Hospitals Of North Midlands NHS Trust and Southport And Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Theresa May said there had been a "small number" of incidents of unacceptable practice in NHS trusts, while Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said there were problems in "one or two" areas.
Official NHS guidance says level 3 is when the local health and social care system "is experiencing major pressures compromising patient flow and continues to increase. Further urgent actions are now required across the system by all A&E Delivery Board partners, and increased external support may be required".
Level 4, the most serious level, shows that pressure "continues to escalate, leaving organisations unable to deliver comprehensive care. There is increased potential for patient care and safety to be compromised".
The data showed that from January 2 to January 8, there were 39 occasions when A&E departments closed their doors to patients, known as A&E diverts, down slightly on the previous week.
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