All ambulance services in England on critical footing due to heatwave and Covid

‘Extreme pressures’ caused by the hot weather have forced all of England’s ambulance services into the highest level of alert.

Over the weekend and Monday, trusts in the South declared ‘critical incidents’ and now their counterparts in the North have followed.

A source told the Health Service Journal that too many patients are suffering in the extreme heat in the back of ambulances.

Many crews are being held outside hospitals for too long as overcrowding inside delays their handovers.

On top of this, ‘chronic under resourcing’ and staff sickness due to Covid is said to making the problem even worse.

The chief executive of a trust in the Midlands said: We had a very, very challenged night for handovers last night, possibly the worst ever, and its only July.’

Announcing its alert yesterday, South Central Ambulance Service said a rise in 999 calls, and people calling back for updates on arrival times was adding pressure.

It said the current heatwave – which has prompted an extreme weather warning for this weekend – will lead to an increase in demand for ambulances.

Yesterday Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust also declared a critical incident across all of its sites amid extreme heat an staff shortages.

In a statement, it said: ‘Due to extreme pressure across the site, an increasingly challenging staffing position and the added strain of the prolonged high temperatures this week, we have taken the difficult decision to declare a critical incident.

‘Our Emergency Department (ED) remains full with patients and we have very limited space to treat emergency patients.’

The trust warned it is only able to treat patients with life threatening conditions and injuries.

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