A message for our Community

A message for our community

Health, care and public service leaders in Northamptonshire have joined together to take steps to maintain patient safety and continuity of essential services, declaring a major incident in response to the latest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the county.

Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum – made up of multiple agencies such as NHS organisations, local authorities, Fire and Rescue Service and the Police – made the announcement today in response to rising demand on services and staffing levels caused by the pandemic.

Background: Why we are here

Calling a major incident bolsters health and public services ability to join forces and co-ordinate activity to help continuity of essential services and help manage and plan for sustained pressure caused by COVID-19 on staffing levels.

We would like to reassure our community that urgent services and time-critical procedures will continue, and we will contact anyone whose treatment is delayed – rebooking appointments once affected services can safely be reinstated.

We understand this situation is far from ideal and some of you will be concerned, and we apologise for the worry this may cause.  All affected patients will be contacted about what to do during this time and be offered information on alternative services that are able to support them.

Our community can help us help them by ensuring they are seeking help from the most appropriate health services, and only visiting A&E for serious accidents and emergencies. If you are unwell, visit NHS 111 online for 24/7 advice about the most appropriate care for your needs. 

Anyone who is not yet fully vaccinated is urged to book in their jab as soon as possible to protect themselves and their families and reduce pressure on health services.

We understand this is a difficult position for our local NHS, care and public services to be in and we thank our fantastic community and staff for their patience and support over what is a very challenging time for all of us.  Please be assured we are doing everything we can to reinstate affected services as quickly as possible, but we will only be in a position to do this when we are confident we can do this safely.