Salisbury Hospital declares critical incident

At 07.50 this morning Salisbury Hospital declared an internal critical incident due to multiple operational pressures including increased length of ambulance delays, increased staff sickness and increasing number of patients awaiting to be discharged to another setting. To reduce pressure on the hospital, we would like to strongly encourage our local community to help us by only attending A&E if they are experiencing a life threatening condition. Alternatives to A&E include the Salisbury Walk in Centre and NHS 111 online and by phone. For minor illness local community pharmacists can provide advice and a range of over-the-counter medicine and treatments.

Andy Hyett, Chief Operating Officer at Salisbury District Hospital said: “We are currently operating at a critical incident level which means we are unable to deliver the comprehensive care that we need to, due to the high volume of patients coming through our doors and the staff shortages we’re experiencing. To reduce pressure on the hospital, we would like to strongly encourage our local community to help us by only attending A&E if they are experiencing a life threatening condition such as Heart Attacks, Strokes or Sepsis or if they have a serious injury. Our clinical teams will be prioritising the extremely ill, so if you do come to A&E with a condition that is not deteriorating, it is unlikely you will be seen for a long period of time.”

Teams across the hospital have implemented back-up plans to try and resolve some of the issues so that the hospital remains open and safe.

Deputy CEO Lisa Thomas said: "I am grateful to everyone at the hospital who have worked so hard to maintain our services under very difficult circumstances. I am incredibly sorry for the disruption and would like to thank our community in advance for working with us to try and alleviate some of the pressure that we’re currently experiencing and to patients for their tolerance and understanding."

14 July 2022