More junior doctors strikes ‘delay our capacity to recover’, says NHS Confederation chief executive

A critical incident has been declared at a hospital in Norfolk due to what it said was “sustained demand across all services”. It had to bring in an extra 78 beds for patients.

Critical incidents are declared when hospitals are unable to function as usual.

The James Paget Hospital in Great Yarmouth said that health and care systems across Norfolk have faced “extremely high levels of demand”.

Last week Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, declared its second critical incident in a month, saying its emergency department had had 10 days of “very high attendance”.

Earlier I spoke to Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation. I started by asking for his response to the latest critical incident.