Don’t come to A&E unless it is an emergency

A FLURRY of patients needed help at Hinckley’s closest A&E department over Christmas prompting medics to appeal to people to only attend in a real emergency.

Bosses at the George Eliot Hospital have revealed that they have had a ‘steady flow’ of patients at the new-look Accident and Emergency department over the last few days.

However, at what is always a demanding time on A&E and the hospital in general, they are appealing to people to only seek help in a real emergency situation.

Medical director Catherine Free said: “We saw a steady flow of patients visit A&E over the Christmas bank holiday period and our staff did a fantastic job in treating patients.

“We would like to remind people that pharmacies and GP surgeries are open this week and that NHS111 is a good first point of contact for health advice and information. We continue to ask patients to visit A&E only in an emergency.”

As previously reported, sobering figures revealed that last December saw an 11 per cent rise in admissions to the ‘Eliot’s Accident and Emergency compared to the previous year.

There was a 9.2 per cent increase in attendances from November 2016 to November 2015; there was an 11 per cent rise in attendances from December 2015 to December 2016 and a 7.2 per cent rise January 2016 to January 2017.

While a ‘winter plan’ is in place to try to reduce waiting times, the £1m upgrade of the A&E department is now complete and that is also expected to help ease pressure.

On Wednesday, December 20, the new ‘one stop shop’ for all accident and emergency services was officially handed over to staff.

Through just one door people can now access A&E, urgent care, out-of-hours GP services and the existing minor injuries services.

It has been stressed that the A&E department is for life-threatening conditions will the Urgent care section is for non-emergency injuries that cannot wait for a GP appointment, such as broken bones and minor injuries.