A hospital in a UK coronavirus hotspot today said it may be forced to withdraw critical care as it has been 'overwhelmed' by Covid-19 patients.
Darent Valley Hospital in Covid-crisis hotspot Kent today declared an extremely rare 'CRITCON level four' critical care alert, which means it may be forced into 'refusal or withdrawal of critical care due to resource limitation'.
However the hospital, near Dartford, later claimed it was as the result of an "administrative error". Data from an internal NHS dashboard for critical care, seen by the Health Service Journal, showed the hospital had made the declaration, known in guidance as a 'Triage emergency'. Is your local NHS trust struggling?