Critical incident announced at Nottingham NHS trust

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has declared a critical incident, which GMB union has labelled a “crisis waiting to happen”.

We have declared a Critical Incident due to sustained pressures across the Trust, in particular in A&E. Please only use our A&E in a life-threatening accident or emergency, using other services such as GPs, NHS111 and pharmacies in all other cases. pic.twitter.com/rzfSjVELZi

— Nottingham University Hospitals (@nottmhospitals) November 4, 2025

NHS: critical in Nottingham

Workers raised the alarm on Sunday 2 November, as they observed 38 ambulances parked outside Queen’s Medical Centre. The overflowing A&E department forced patients and paramedics to wait inside their vehicles for up to 12 hours.

The backlog meant that the majority of the ambulance fleet was stuck waiting. This meant that paramedics were unable to respond to other 999 calls.

One 88-year-old with sepsis had to wait four hours for the department to let her. Sepsis is a life-threatening and fast-moving medical emergency, and waiting can be the difference between life and death.

NUH then declared the critical incident just after 4pm on Tuesday, November 4. At that time, the trust reported 24 ambulances waiting outside A&E and “large numbers” of people in the department.

Colin Todd, GMB Organiser, said:

This is a crisis waiting to happen; it could happen again next week and patients would again be left without the critical support our members provide.

This is an issue that has been building for years; now patients are suffering.

We need a root and branch action plan to resolve the crisis in emergency, primary and social care.

The trust has reported that issues with the rollout of new electronic patient record software are adding to the current pressure.

The software, which belongs to Nervecentre, supposedly “drives digital transformation”. The NHS is rolling it out across several trusts.

But clearly, the software is already creating more problems with its ‘slow performance’.

The trust is reminding people to only use A&E in a “life-threatening accident or emergency”. However, planned surgeries and appointments are going ahead as usual.

This comes as a brand new state-of-the-art National Rehabilitation Centre is set to be opened by NUH.

Take a sneak peek at the brand new, state-of-the-art National Rehabilitation Centre, run and staffed by @nottmhospitals, designed from the ground up to help people rebuild their lives after life-changing illness or injuries 📷 pic.twitter.com/CfS2XkPOYP

— National Rehabilitation Centre NRC UK (@NRCrehabUK) November 5, 2025

Mismanagement of the NHS

Of course, this would probably not be happening if Wes Streeting was not royally fucking up the management of the NHS.

The crisis in NUH – it was entirely predictable. The Independent reported that over the summer, the trust made more than 500,000 patients wait over 12 hours to be seen in A&E. This was more than the total number for the entire winter period of 2021/22. Hospitals are already at breaking point. Hospitals are treating patients in makeshift wards. This includes corridors, offices, and even a Costa Coffee cafe, due to a severe shortage of beds.

Clearly, the writing has been on the wall for some time. So what has Streeting been doing about all this in preparation for winter?

In true Weasel Wes fashion, he has refused to give doctors pay rises – or any pay deal at all. Pathetically, he offered to pay exam fees and Royal College memberships, along with moving up plans to create training place, but he has not budged on pay rises.

Instead of a fair pay deal, he’s been out trying to manufacture public consent for his crappy offer to doctors who hold people’s lives in their hands. Naturally, to do that, he blamed underpaid and massively overworked doctors for the strikes – when it’s obviously actually all on him.

Feature image via David Lally/ Wikimedia Commons