Hospital forced to erect TENT in car park as non urgent operations are cancelled

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Non urgent operations are being cancelled for a second day at a major hospital in Wiltshire. A tent was erected purely as a precautionary measure to support the hospital, a spokeswoman for the ambulance service said.

The Mirror reports: The large, green ‘filed tent’ was erected on the tarmac at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wilts., next to a mobile chemotherapy unit.

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A rigid-framed structure, the tent could provide shelter for one ambulance or several hospital beds.

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All non-essential operations at the hospital were cancelled for a second day in a bid to cut down on workload with none emergency patients being turned away.

The hospital trust admitted it was having to deal with “increased demand and growing pressure” on its services – but denied it had declared major incident status.

Michelle Kemp, Chief Operating Officer at the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have made a decision to cancel all non-essential operations planned for today.

“It is not a decision we have taken lightly. All patients affected have been contacted and will be rescheduled at the earliest opportunity.

Major incidents are in place now at eight hospitals in England as staff struggle to cope with the number of patients.

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The BBC reports that Hospitals in Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Surrey are among those affected, with three others declaring “internal major incidents”. A paramedic in the West Midlands said A&E doors were locked at Royal Stoke University Hospital. The hospital has yet to comment on the claim

Meanwhile, new figures out today show the performances of A&E departments across England, in regard to waiting times, have dropped to the lowest level for a decade.