University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) and University Hospital Southampton (UHS) have critical incidents still in place, although measures have been stood down at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals (NNUH) and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust.

NNUH chief operating officer Chris Cobb said: 'I can confirm that we have stood down our critical incident which was declared on Wednesday after the cooling systems supporting our MRI scanners within the hospital building and our community diagnostic centre failed in the hot and humid weather.

 

'We have worked tirelessly to bring all the scanners back into use and we have already rebooked a majority of the 362 patients who had their appointments cancelled. We received a mobile MRI  scanner on Thursday morning and it is instrumental in supporting our prioritisation of inpatients and patients on suspected cancer two week waiting lists.'

UHS declared a critical incident on Thursday after extreme heat affected systems and critical clinical services, including theatres and diagnostic imaging, leading to cancellation of a number of planned operations and outpatient appointments.

Ambulance services

Ambulance services have also come under severe pressure with East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust declaring a critical incident on Saturday.

London Ambulance Service stood down its critical incident after answering the highest number of 999 calls in its history on Friday as the capital continued to endure extreme heat.

Call handlers took 8,869 emergency calls during the day. Between 6pm and midnight they answered more than 500 calls an hour.

The service also responded to 688 Category 1 emergencies – another record for a single day.

Demand was higher than during May's heatwave and the peak of the Covid pandemic.