Welsh ambulance chief asks NYE revellers to 'drink sensibly' as service declares 'critical incident'
31 December 2024, 10:20 | Updated: 31 December 2024, 10:22
The head of Wales’ ambulance service has urged the public to drink responsibly and keep an eye on friends this New Year's Eve after a critical incident was declared on Monday evening.
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There were over 340 calls waiting to be answered when the incident was declared. More than half of the Trust's ambulance vehicles were waiting outside hospitals to hand over patients. Many were left waiting for “hours”.
Jason Killens, the Welsh Ambulance Service's chief executive, has asked for the public’s cooperation as the service grapples with the surge in demand.
He said: “People out celebrating can help us tonight by of course, having a good time, but drinking sensibly, eating before they go out and looking after their friends.”
Mr Killens said the increased demand has come as a “result of flu and COVID and other respiratory viruses circulating through the winter."
"What we have seen in the last 24 to 48 hours is an acute accumulation of those pressures," he added.
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The Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which operates Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands, also declared a critical incident on Monday due to a surge in demand.
Will Roberts, chief operating officer at the trust, said: "We expect, and plan for, higher demand for our Urgent and Emergency Care services in winter.
"At Walsall Manor, we are currently seeing increased numbers of people requiring hospital care - predominantly with respiratory conditions – and this inevitably impacts patient flow elsewhere.
The flu, Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus have all broken out across Britain this winter, adding to the usual seasonal pressures on NHS.The Cardiff and Vale health board said the surge specifically of flu is expected to peak within the next 10 days.
The UK Health Security Agency recently published a report saying that cases of Covid and RSV - which causes colds and serious lung infections - stabilising.
But flu and norovirus surged in the week before Christmas. Some hospitals have reinstituted the rule which made face coverings mandatory in hospitals.Richard Hughes, deputy director of Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board, revealed why visitors to their emergency departments are being told to mask up.
Mr Hughes said: "When flu enters and circulates within a hospital it can cause significant problems, posing a real risk to the health of patients and causing absences among our staff, so we need to do everything we can to keep the virus at bay."
