Critical incident remains at QEQM Hospital Margate but visiting restrictions lifted for more wards

A critical incident remains at the QEQM Hospital in Margate but visiting has been reintroduced for some of the wards.

The critical status was declared by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust on January 12  due to sustained pressures from a high volume of patients with winter illnesses and a lack of bed space.

Beds across East Kent hospitals are currently full and attendance at emergency departments is extremely high, meaning there is very limited capacity to admit further patients who need acute care.

The Trust has temporarily stopped visits on certain wards at QEQM to protect patients.

The wards and areas not affected by restrictions when they were first announced on Monday were  children’s, critical care units and maternity areas.

‘Positive impact’

But East Kent Hospitals Trust says since declaring an internal critical incident there has been a positive impact of people choosing the right services for their needs. By using alternatives such as NHS 111, GPs, pharmacies and urgent treatment centres where appropriate, people have helped hospital teams to focus on caring for the patients who need urgent and emergency hospital treatment the most.

The Trust says: “While this support has made a real difference, we want to be clear that we remain in a critical incident and our hospitals continue to experience exceptionally high demand.

“As part of our ongoing critical incident response, we are continuing to work closely with partners across the health and care system to:

• Safely discharge patients who no longer need acute hospital care
• Reduce avoidable admissions where it is safe to do so
• Review planned procedures and appointments — unless you hear from us directly, please continue to attend your appointment as planned.

Visiting reintroduced at four sites

“We know how important it is for patients to have visits from loved ones while they are in hospital. We need to balance this with the need to protect patients and their visitors from winter viruses as much as possible.

“From today (15 January) we are able to re-introduce visiting for patients in these areas of the hospital: Cheerful Sparrows Male ward, Quex ward, Heart Centre and Discharge lounge.

“We are working to re-introduce visiting to other areas as soon as possible”

People with symptoms of any viruses, including flu and tummy bugs, are asked not to visit until they have been symptom-free for 48 hours.

The Trust also asks people to:

•  Not visit if you have spent time with anyone with symptoms
• Clean your hands when you arrive at the ward/department and when you leave
• Only visit one patient
• If possible for only one person to visit at a time, please do so
• If  possible, please avoid bringing children to visit loved ones at this time.

Children’s, critical care units and maternity areas remain open to visitors.

If a loved one is at the end of their life or needs specific support staff will ensure you are able to visit and this will be agreed by the ward manager. Virtual visiting will be available for all patients.

‘Thank you’

Sarah Hayes, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer at East Kent Hospitals, said: “On behalf of all our staff, I would like to thank our local community for the way people have responded during this challenging time. By using health services wisely, you are helping our staff to care for patients who need us most.

“We are still extremely busy and under pressure, but the continued support and understanding of the public really does make a difference. I also want to thank our teams, who remain committed to providing safe, compassionate care to everyone who needs us.”