NHS chiefs say the high number of people needing care, alongside reduced staffing means there are long waits in A&E departments and long wait times for admission onto hospital wards.

Following the junior doctor strikes earlier this month, the hospitals say “staffing levels have not improved.”

Dr Dave Briggs, the medical director at NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire said: “Our acute hospitals remain under extreme pressure, so the critical incident status covering the whole Nottingham and Nottinghamshire NHS system remains in place.

“Although staffing levels have recovered, the increase in demand, particularly for patients presenting with seasonal and respiratory illnesses such as flu and Covid remains high.

“And with cold weather forecast to continue in the coming days, we are not yet in a position to step down the critical incident.”

Patients are advised to only attend A&E if they have “a life-threatening illness or injury that cannot be treated elsewhere.”

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A spokesperson for Unison East Midlands said: “NHS staff in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, and across the East Midlands continue to be overworked and undervalued by the Government.

“While declaring a critical incident is the formal mechanism for signalling that priority services may be under threat, many hospitals suspended non-urgent appointments and surgery to avoid raising the alarm in the first place.

“Whether hospitals declare a critical incident or not, the consequences are still the same. With NHS vacancies in England exceeding 130,000 and experienced staff leaving in droves, health workers are operating at critical levels every single day.”

It comes as an NHS chief demands Britons “mask up” again following the increase of Covid cases.