East Midlands Ambulance Service stands down critical incident but remains on highest action plan level

The critical incident was declared on Monday evening (January 6) amid growing pressure in hospitals and flooding across the region. This was the first time the ambulance service, which serves Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, had ever declared a critical incident.

At 9am today (Wednesday January 8), EMAS stood down the critical incident as the number of patients awaiting an ambulance response has “significantly reduced”. The service is, however, still operating on the highest level escalation action plan, which means patients are asked to seek health care and treatment via alternative avenues, if their illness or injury is not immediately life-threatening.

Deputy chief executive of EMAS, Will Legge, said: “The immediate actions that hospitals, partner agencies, and integrated care systems took, and the incredible hard work of our staff and volunteers, means that the number of patients awaiting an ambulance response has significantly reduced.

“The NHS across our region is fragile. This first week in January is historically one of the busiest for the NHS. This year, flu, Covid-19, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and norovirus, are adding additional pressure for all services.

“Therefore, although we have stood down the Critical Incident status, we remain at Level 4 - the highest level - of the Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP).

“We will maintain the EMAS strategic command structure put in place to respond to the incident. This allows us to closely monitor activity for the remainder of this week. It also supports ongoing collaboration with key stakeholders and partner agencies who play an important role in freeing up our ambulance crews to allow them to respond to patients waiting for an emergency 999 response.

“Declaring a Critical Incident was an unprecedented action for EMAS.

“I am incredibly grateful for all efforts of colleagues across the health and care systems, and to the public for supporting the sharing of messaging about using alternative healthcare services.

“If your illness or injury is not immediately life-threatening, please seek health care and treatment via a pharmacy, urgent treatment centre, or general practitioner (including out of hours services) – visit the NHS website for services near you.”

The trust responsible for Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals has also declared a critical incident.