Critical incident declared amid 'extreme pressure'

A critical incident has been declared by an NHS trust that runs Nottingham's two major hospitals due to "some of the highest attendances on record" at its A&E departments.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS trust - which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital - said patients were "having unacceptable and lengthy waits on corridors", with staff "under extreme pressure".

According to NUH, there were more than than 200 patients in A&E, with more than 100 waiting to be seen.

Tracy Pilcher, NUH chief nurse, said: "In the last 24 hours staff have been working hard to do everything they can to mitigate the pressures, focusing on getting patients seen and home."

NUH added in the past two weeks, it had seen "three of the highest attendances on record".

In September, there were 2,000 more A&E attendances than that of in September 2025, causing an "ongoing impact to pressures", the trust added.

It said it had more than 200 patients in its hospitals who were safe to leave, and urged family members to collect any relatives ready to leave.

Pilcher added: "We recognise that significant waits to be seen and corridor care is not the way our staff want to work or our patients want to be seen, and for that we are very sorry.

"Please be reassured that we are doing all we can and hope that the actions we are taking will improve the situation as soon as possible.

"Getting patients out of the hospital when they are ready is vital to improving our position."

The trust advised people to only call 999 or attend emergency departments for serious accidents and for life-threatening emergencies.

It said urgent treatment centres could treat injuries including sprains, strains, suspected fractures, bites, cuts, scalds and other non-emergency conditions.

NUH added where the situation was not life-threatening, alternative support would be available through NHS 111 online or by calling 111.

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