‘Major incident’ declared as infection rate rises – opening doors to more resources
A major incident has been declared in Sussex as rising coronavirusinfectionsseethe county face ‘ unprecedented pressures’.
The Sussex Resilience Forum (SRF), which coordinates and communicates between health and emergency services, local authorities and other partners, agreed to declare the incident from 2pm last Wednesday in response to the ‘high and increasing rate’ of infection across Sussex.
The move will allow public services to make exceptional preparations for a potentially worsening situation, a spokesman said.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Miller, from the Sussex Resilience Forum, said: “Our focus, as ever, is on working together to protect people in Sussex in every way we can.
“The pressures on the whole system of health and social care are facing this winter are unprecedented and while our services are managing, we know that challenges are only likely to increase in the short term.
“By declaring a major incident, we can put ourselves on the strongest possible footing to combine our efforts and resources to keep people and public services in the best possible health.”
The decision was made in recognition of the strong and connected pressures across the entire health and care system, from 999 calls to hospital admissions, clinical treatment, discharge from hospital, community services and provision in care homes.
It comes after hospitals in Chichester, Worthing, Haywards Heath and Brighton warned of high demand, confirming that staff were now caring for ‘many more patients with Covid-19’ than at the peak of the pandemic’s first wave last April.
The ambulance service also confirmed it was under pressure, reminding people only to call 999 in the event of a serious or life-threatening emergency.
Declaring a major incident puts all agencies in Sussex ‘in the best possible position’ to come together to tackle the virus, an SRF spokesman said, describing it as ‘a well-recognised and rehearsed escalation that can be expected at times of exceptional need’.
A major incident was also in place during the summer of 2020, before being stood down in September.
While services are satisfied that they are currently managing the extra demands on the system, they agreed that they must now make plans for the likelihood that pressures will increase still further in coming weeks, the spokesman said, adding that there was a particular need to continue delivering the programme of vaccination to Sussex residents.
Partners agreed the decision would allow the SRF to step up and strengthen its response still further.
This may include making more use of volunteer help, preparing in detail for extra capacity needed across services and considering requests for extra support from national government if necessary, the spokesman said.
The Sussex Resilience Forum thanked the vast majority of the public in Sussex who are doing everything they can to help the NHS keep the infection under control.
Everyone is asked to follow the Covid rules and protect each other; stay at home wherever possible, wash your hands regularly, keep your distance from people you don’t live with and if you develop symptoms, selfisolate immediately and book a test.