A ‘critical incident’ was declared by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust yesterday due to pressure on A&E departments.

The trust issued the warning to staff on Tuesday citing “unprecedented” numbers of patients needing care.

A&E departments at City Hospital and Sandwell Hospital are both run by the trust.

The trust confirmed that ‘unprecedented’ pressures continued this morning and said it was closely monitoring the situation.

Its statement to staff yesterday said: “We are currently seeing immense pressure on our emergency services and have had to declare a critical incident at our trust due to unprecedented numbers of patients waiting in our A&E departments at each of our hospitals.

“This is an extraordinary situation that requires immediate action.”

The statement added: “Colleagues are working tirelessly to provide the best care possible under these challenging circumstances but it is clear we are stretched to capacity.

“We are doing everything we can to manage the situation including calling in additional staff and offering targeted support to those departments under pressure.”

Staff were told to cancel any non-emergency appointments and meetings to help deal with the critical incident.