NHS Lanarkshire says its three acute hospitals are completely full and “working beyond capacity” – and is asking residents “to consider alternatives to accident and emergency” amid the prospect of 10-hour waiting times.
Health board officials say their staff and facilities are under “relentless pressures” including a trebling of COVID cases since last month, along with hugely increased patient numbers, ward closures and staff shortages.
The emergency departments at Monklands, Hairmyres and Wishaw General hospitals saw their highest number of patients in five months in the last week of February with a combined total of 3830; up 14 per cent from those in the first four weeks of 2022.
Russell Coulthard, who is NHS Lanarkshire’s deputy director of acute services, said: “Our three acute sites are full. We have been working beyond maximum capacity within our hospitals over the past few weeks with capacity regularly over 100 per cent.
“Unfortunately, many patients in our emergency department will be waiting over 10 hours to be admitted due to the current overwhelming demand; which is well in excess of our target of four hours.
“Covid-19 numbers are on the rise with 194 COVID patients across the three acute sites on Friday. To put that in perspective, numbers had fallen to 66 in the middle of last month but have been increasing ever since and show no sign of levelling off or decreasing.
“The knock-on effect is that we have staff absences due to COVID; we continue to face significant challenges across health services and our staff are struggling to cope.
“We have wards closed across our sites due to COVID which again reduces beds available to patients and creates further additional pressures while we are trying to recover services and treat patients who need our care.
“These combined pressures mean that we have had to take some difficult decisions, including reintroducing essential visiting across our three acute hospitals earlier this week.
“Safety of our patients and staff is our top priority and we are taking all necessary action to ensure safe and effective patient care and address the current pressures; we are making the best use of the staff and beds that are available to enable us to treat patients appropriately.”
Hairmyres emergency department consultant Dr Calvin Lightbody highlighted the “exceptionally high numbers” attending A&E and is urging Lanarkshire residents to access the right care at the right place, allowing the departments to be kept free for those with emergency care needs.
Wishaw General’s emergency department had 1327 attendances in the week beginning February 27, the last for which figures are available, with Monklands seeing 1288 patients and Hairmyres 1215.
Two in five waited more than four hours to be seen, while 8.8 per cent of patients waited eight hours or more amid the pressures on the service.
Dr Lightbody said: “Our three emergency departments are extremely busy and overcrowded but we are working our best to try to get through the huge number of patients.
“If you have an emergency condition such as chest pain, breathing difficulties, severe pain or major bleeding then you should come to A&E as usual and we are very much open for business.
“If you think you need to attend A&E but it’s not a critical emergency, or you think you need to visit a minor injuries unit, call NHS 24 on 111 day or night, where you will be directed to the right NHS service.
“Consider seeing your GP or local pharmacy or if you just need healthcare advice, then please use the NHS Inform website.
“If you do come to A&E you may face a wait of several hours to be seen – please be kind and considerate to our staff. We are working extremely hard in very difficult circumstances to do the very best we can for our patients.”
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