Casualties from the Grenfell Tower fire are being treated at Charing Cross and St Mary’s Hospitals, with the NHS trust declaring a major incident.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust say the two hospitals are dealing with 20 patients in total, with the majority at St Mary’s in Paddington .

Three of the 16 people at St Mary’s are in a critical condition, while none of the four at Charing Cross, in Hammersmith , have life threatening injuries.

Emergency services have confirmed six fatalities , with the figure expected to rise.

London Ambulance Service say a total of 64 patients have been taken to six hospitals. Of these, 20 are in critical care.

Professor Julian Redhead is the medical director at the trust, which runs five hospitals including St Mary’s and Charing Cross.

He said: “Both St Mary’s and Charing Cross hospitals declared a major incident in response to the fire at Grenfell Tower block in Kensington.

“Both hospitals have received casualties and the incident is on-going.

“At St Mary’s Hospital, we have 16 patients, three of whom are in a critical condition.

Twenty Grenfell Tower casualties are being treated at St Mary's Hospital

“At Charing Cross Hospital, we have four patients, none of whom are critical.”

He has asked people attending the A&E units at the two hospital to do so only if the case is an emergency.

He said: “Our accident and emergency departments at both hospitals remain very busy and so we are asking members of the public to attend only if it is an emergency. We are requesting that, where possible, they attend their local walk-in centre or GP practice.

Video Loading

The Trust says those expecting to be operated on or with outpatient appointments should contact the hospitals first: “Patients with planned operations today should contact the admissions office on their appointment letters.

“Patients with outpatient appointments should contact the outpatient number on their appointment letters.

“Any patients coming to either site for planned appointments that are confirmed as going ahead should bring their appointment letter with them.”

Smoke billows from a fire that has engulfed the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in west London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday June 14, 2017. More than 200 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze and London Ambulance Service said 30 people had been taken to five hospitals. See PA story FIRE Grenfell. Photo credit should read: Rick Findler/PA Wire
Smoke billows from a fire that has engulfed the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in west London

Addressing the response of medics and staff at the hospitals, Professor Redhead said: “I am very proud of the fantastic response we have had from our staff, both those on duty and those who came in as part of our major incident protocol.

“We are continuing to care for patients who are primarily suffering the effects of smoke.

“Along with the emergency services and other receiving hospitals, we are ensuring that we are doing everything that we can to care for and support those affected by this dreadful incident.”

The fire broke out at the 27 storey block in the early hours of Wednesday (June 14) morning.

People who escaped the tower in North Kensington spoke of others, including children, screaming for help, some holding babies from windows and others jumping from their flats high above the ground.

We've set up a JustGiving page in aid of those affected. To donate visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/grenfell-tower-support.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!