A critical incident has been declared at the Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). The NHS trust issued the alert on Friday due to "significant pressures" across its hospitals, in particular A&E services. Patients are suffering "lengthy delays", it said, as it urged people to carefully asses whether they truly need to attend A&E.

NUH said an increase in patients with respiratory issues has caused "capacity pressures" across its hospitals, with more than half of its adult beds currently occupied by people over the age of 80. It added that patients are staying in hospital when they are safe to return home, causing "extreme pressure" for staff.

Andrew Hall, Chief Operating Officer at NUH, said: "The pressures we are seeing in our hospitals are significant and our patients are having to wait longer than they should to be seen.

"We have been working tirelessly all week to mitigate the pressures we are currently seeing but this has not had the desired impact, and so we declaring a Critical Incident is necessary to protect patient safety.

"I would like to apologise to all patients who are in our hospitals and are waiting for long periods. While staff are doing all they can to help people to be seen quickly and hope to have more than 200 patients home today, we also need the public to help us.

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"Getting patients home as soon as they are well enough to is vital and we would like families and carers to please prioritise getting their loved ones home when they are contacted.

"This could mean collecting them before you are due to finish work, making sure they have their medication ready at home and ensuring they have somewhere warm to go back to.

"Please also consider carefully whether or not you need to attend A&E. If you are in an emergency situation, please still attend. Otherwise, consider if there are other services that could help - your local pharmacy, or calling 111 for advice.

"If you do have an appointment booked with us, please do still attend until told otherwise."