The Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust hospital group, which is covered by the National Health Service (NHS), is the latest in a string of UK healthcare players to ramp up preparedness in recent days.
Among other things, they operate the large Queen Alexandra Hospital in the district county of Hampshire.
– The hospital group has now declared a critical situation to safeguard patient safety. The decision comes after extreme and sustained pressure on services in Portsmouth and south-east Hampshire. This has led to significant delays for patients needing urgent help, the group writes in one Press release.
– Demand for emergency aid far exceeds available capacity in the county at present, they write further.
They will now allocate resources only for patients in danger of dying.
Strike mode
According to Sky News The health and care system in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire has moved to the corresponding emergency level.
So has the NHS ambulance service in north east England, Yorkshire, the east of the country and the south east coast.
In London, paramedics have also increased their training.
Hospitals and services are organizing it at the same time as up to 100,000 nurses have gone on strike, and it is steadily intensified.
Strike: NHS nurses go on strike outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Photo: Henry Nicholls/Reuters/NTB
sea View
Nor are they the only Britons on strike mode in the run up to Christmas. The same goes for ambulance drivers and railway employees.
The situation is at a standstill, has deep roots and evokes memories of the harsh labor conflicts under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
After several years of declining real wages, nurses are demanding that wages have risen more than price increases.
But the Conservative government was clear on Tuesday that its previous offer of a 4-5% pay rise is stalled and non-negotiable amid the economic crisis, NTB writes.
Already pressed
However, critical treatments such as chemotherapy and dialysis continue as normal. Intensive care units are also trying to maintain regular staffing in most places, UK nurses union RCN said.
In many other departments, however, staffing has been significantly reduced. And lately it has been too very cold in the UK.
This has led to even greater pressure on an already stressed health service.
In relation to the strikes, the government has asked people to be careful and avoid risky actions. But they still have to dial the 999 emergency number, underlines Secretary of State Will Quince at the Ministry of Health.
