Hospital with 'very busy' A&E issues plea to only attend 'if absolutely necessary'

A hospital has issued a plea to the public to only attend A&E 'if absolutely necessary'.

In a tweet posted this afternoon, the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust said that the emergency department at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan was 'currently very busy'. Members of the public are being urged to only go if they need urgent care.

The tweet said: "Our Emergency Department is currently very busy! It is important that you only attend if it is absolutely necessary!! If your condition is not a medical emergency, you will wait longer to be seen. Visit 111.nhs.uk to find the most appropriate care for you."

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Just two days ago, the same trust said people in its A&E department were facing 'exceptionally long waits'. A tweet said: "We are currently experiencing exceptionally long waits in our A&E department and urge you to access it appropriately."

Earlier this week, on Monday night, the North West Ambulance Service issued an urgent plea, asking members of the public to only call the emergency line if absolutely necessary. Bosses also apologised for delays, as they said the service was extremely stretched across the region.

And on Wednesday, patients reported 16 hour wait times at Wythenshawe Hospital A&E department. One parent, who took her child to the emergency department at the hospital, wrote on Facebook that she'd first arrived at 7pm on Tuesday night and was still waiting to be seen at 7am on Wednesday.

Another woman wrote: "Heads up….waiting time at A & E at Wythenshawe has just gone up to 16 hours." Responding to her post, one woman added: "I went in at 7pm didn't get seen till 5.30am."

Bosses at Manchester University Foundation Trust, who run Wythenshawe Hospital and Manchester Royal Infirmary, confirmed they were 'experiencing high demand for (their) services in (their) emergency departments' across the region.

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