A hospital has declared a major incident which has resulted in the cancellation of all outpatient appointments.
Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth has suffered a 'significant" water leak this morning which sparked the incident.
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHST tweeted: "As a result of a significant water leak affecting large parts of the Queen Alexandra Hospital site, we have declared a major incident.
"All outpatients appointments scheduled for this morning (Friday 7 January 2022) have been cancelled.
"We apologise for the short notice and any inconvenience this will cause. We will rearrange the appointments as soon as possible.
"Dialysis and chemotherapy appointments continue as usual.
"We will keep you updated with any developments and potential impact on other services.
"Thank you."
The news comes as 15 hospitals have declared 'critical incidents' this week amid mounting staff absences caused by Covid.
Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and University Hospitals Dorset are among the hospital trusts that have signalled they may be unable to deliver vital care to patients due to staff shortages.
Meanwhile, 17 hospitals in Greater Manchester have paused non-urgent surgery and appointments, although a critical incident has not yet been declared at the sites.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said hospitals are able to get assistance from nearby hospitals and other NHS trusts after declaring critical incidents.
He added: "It is a sensible, planned thing to do to ensure that trust can carry on providing the services that it needs to provide, particularly the critical and essential services."
Despite this, Mr Hopson also stressed that while there are some staff shortages within the NHS, they are localised.
Some are estimating that up to a quarter of staff could be off work with coronavirus but Mr Hopson said the data does not suggest this to be the case.
The six trusts which have declared a critical incident publicly were responsible for 15 hospitals.
On a visit to a vaccination centre on Monday, the Prime Minister said he appreciated the pressure staff were under, and that it was “vital that we make sure that we help them by trying to contain the pandemic” by getting vaccinated and following plan B measures.
Speaking at the Guttman Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Boris Johnson warned it would be “absolute folly to say that this thing is all over now bar the shouting”.
But he also said it was “very encouraging” to see children getting jabbed before going back to school.
Speaking to staff, Mr Johnson remarked on people of “all ages” queuing up to get a vaccine.
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