NHS Feeling The Heat As Temperatures Soar

Warm weather puts more pressure on A&E units and ambulances

- Helena Vesty

Greater Manchester’s NHS appears to be creaking under pressure as it deals with ‘extremely busy’ emergency departments, ambulances queueing up outside A&Es, and the region’s ambulance service declaring its version of a ‘black alert’.

The huge demand typically relents in the summer giving the NHS precious time to recover before winter hits again, but challenges remain as the health services battles through a heatwave.

Yesterday, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) raised its operational pressure levels to the Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP) level four – commonly known as a ‘critical incident’.

Level four is the highest available, and ‘indicates a potential for failures’ within ambulances services as they try to cope with ‘extreme pressure’, according to the national NHS framework.