Covid: Sussex and Surrey in 'major incident' response to virus

Sussex and Surrey have rolled out 'major incident' plans, as fears increase that Covid-19 cases could overwhelm local health services.

Sussex Resilience Forum said growing demand had put services under unprecedented pressures.

Both counties went into tier four before the national lockdown came in.

Restrictions across the South East were progressively tightened as the region faced an outbreak of the new Covid variant, which spreads more rapidly.

In a statement, the Sussex forum said a major incident was declared at 14:00 GMT, while the Surrey forum said it had been operating in major incident mode since March 2020 but would now reprioritise operations.

Measures in Sussex could include making more use of volunteer help and preparing in detail for extra capacity needed across services, the forum said.

It could also lead to requests for extra support from the government if necessary.

Sussex assistant chief constable Dave Miller said: "The pressures on the whole system of health and social care... 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."

In Surrey, resilience forum chairman Steve Owen-Hughes said partners including hospitals, GPs, social care, emergency services and councils were already working together but would now reprioritise their approach to focus on public safety and redeploying staff and expertise.

He said: "We believe that the next few weeks and months are going to be some of the most difficult we have had to face, as infection rates rise still further.

"I know how frustrating it is to be faced with another lockdown and I would like to thank the vast majority of Surrey residents for playing their part over the last few months. However, now is not the time to ease up if we are to save lives and protect the NHS and we need everyone to continue with their efforts."

On Tuesday, it emerged that births at home and midwife-led units had been suspended by East Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The move was because of the "significant pressure" the ambulance service was facing.

In a letter to NHS trusts in the region, South East Coast Ambulance Service spoke of the "current operational pressures" it was facing.

"We need to reduce the amount of planned activity that may require emergency ambulance transfer," it said.