East Midlands Ambulance Service (Emas) has stood down its first ever critical incident.

Bosses felt there was "a great risk" of patient harm on Monday evening (January 6), with high demand, handover delays outside of hospitals and widespread flooding slowing down crews all contributing to the incident being triggered.

At one point, there were more than 500 emergencies waiting for a response from Emas across the East Midlands. Director of operations Ben Holdaway told the LDRS yesterday (Tuesday, January 7) it would not be stood down until those in charge were "absolutely sure" the situation has returned to "some kind of normality".

This has now been achieved, with the trust saying the incident was formally ended this morning (Wednesday, January 8). However, Emas is still sat at the highest level of alert – level four – when it comes to system pressures and is calling on the public to continue to help it reduce those.

The strain is partially due to a "quaddemic" of flu, Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus that is doing the rounds, according to Emas deputy chief executive Will Legge. He added the NHS across the East Midlands region is "fragile", and the illnesses are "adding additional pressures for all services".

People should continue to use services other than 999 for illnesses and injuries which are not "immediately life-threatening", Mr Legge continued. This includes pharmacies, doctors surgeries and urgent treatment centres.

Photo: Coalville Nub News

Mr Legge said: "The immediate actions that hospitals, partner agencies, and integrated care systems took, and the incredible hard work of our staff and volunteers, means that the number of patients awaiting an ambulance response has significantly reduced.

"The NHS across our region is fragile. This first week in January is historically one of the busiest for the NHS. This year, flu, Covid-19, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and norovirus, are adding additional pressure for all services.

"Therefore, although we have stood down the Critical Incident status, we remain at Level 4 – the highest level – of the Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP). We will maintain the Emas strategic command structure put in place to respond to the incident.

"This allows us to closely monitor activity for the remainder of this week. It also supports ongoing collaboration with key stakeholders and partner agencies who play an important role in freeing up our ambulance crews to allow them to respond to patients waiting for an emergency 999 response."

Mr Legge revealed that declaring this week's critical incident was an "unprecedented" move by the service and he paid tribute to all who had helped the service through the incident. He said: "I am incredibly grateful for all efforts of colleagues across the health and care systems, and to the public for supporting the sharing of messaging about using alternative healthcare services.

"If your illness or injury is not immediately life-threatening, please seek health care and treatment via a pharmacy, urgent treatment centre, or general practitioner (including out of hours services) – visit the NHS website for services near you."