Use A&E only in an emergency
Hospital chief’s festive appeal
A Wishaw hospital chief has appealed to the public to avoid going to A&E unless it is absolutely necessary over the Christmas period.
The hospital’s director of hospital services Marion Mark made the announcement following the release of the hospital’s latest A&E figures which showed the hospital missed its target by more than 12 per cent.
For the week ending November 18, 82.8 per cent of 1,385 patients were seen within four hours - well short of the 95 per cent target set by the Scottish Government.
The figure was the lowest since April and comes just as the hospital enters its busiest time of the year with the winter weather starting to bite.
Speaking in relation to last week’s figures, Marion Mark said: “We have experienced an increase in the volume of people attending A& E and unfortunately this has impacted on our waiting times.
“We are sorry that some patients have experienced long waits as a result.”
Wishaw’s latest A& E stats compare to Hairmyres’ figure of 91.1 per cent and 92.3 per cent for Monklands.
On that week, 31 patients waited in Wishaw A&E for more than eight hours while seven waited for over 12 hours to be seen by a doctor.
Since the turn of the year, Wishaw has only managed to achieve its 95 per cent target three times - in March and twice in May.
And for the Christmas and New Year period last year, that number fell to just 77 per cent with 90 people waiting more than eight hours for treatment.
Marion Mark added: “We triage patients on the basis of clinical need so patients who require urgent care are seen as a priority.
“All of our staff worked extremely hard to ensure patients are seen and treated as quickly as possible.
“There are a range of services in the community which patients can use instead of attending A&E.
“This includes pharmacists and community opticians who can provide advice and treatment for a range of minor illnesses.
“More information is available on NHS Inform and the NHS Lanarkshire website.”