Greater Manchester's health service is starting another day under soaring pressure. NHS bosses across the region are urging people to avoid A&E unless faced with a life-threatening condition.
But pressure is being felt across all corners of the health and care system, which has been described as 'really intense' by Mandy Philbin, chief nurse for NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care. Hospital beds have seen occupancy of 98% in recent days, with long lines of ambulances queueing outside and patients warned of 'poor experience'.
Northern Care Alliance - which runs four hospitals and community services within Salford, Oldham, Bury and Rochdale - raised a 'Business Continuity Incident' last night (December 29) due to the pressure being faced. But Ms Philbin says the strain is also being felt at GP practices - with one of the region's GPs telling followers on Twitter last night she felt 'physically broken'.
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In a plea to the public, Ms Philbin urged patients to consider 'self care' if possible - including speaking to pharmacists, using the 111 online service and trying over the counter medicine. She said: "If you need services - particularly ambulance and A&E - the services are still there in Greater Manchester, so please don't think that they're not.
"What we're asking is, please only consider using these services if it's life-threatening and you really, really need it. If we're talking about a toothache, or a backache, or a mild chest infection - please use other resources that are available to us."
NHS data shows 539 patients were admitted to hospitals in Greater Manchester on Boxing Day alone. Bed occupancy is at the 98% mark, with Ms Philbin explaining that 12% of patients are Covid positive.
She said that high levels of respiratory illness are being seen in hospitals, while there is a 'crisis' in workforce is being affected by medics picking up colds and winter bugs. One hospital visitor who attended Tameside Hospital on Wednesday evening described 13-hour waits while medics had to deal with multiple people 'under the influence' - even calling in police for support.
"People say the NHS is on its knees, but I think it's just mis-used," he added. "If people used a pharmacy for basic first aid, and could actually see their GP easily, the A&E department wouldn't be so concerned about the safety and high number of people trying to be seen."
On the same evening, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership had issued a stark warning to the public about A&E, saying the current situation was 'beyond anything we have experienced before'. Meanwhike, the strain in general practice was also laid bare last night in a personal tweet from Bolton GP, Dr Helen Wall.
She wrote: "#teamGP body and mind feel physically broken tonight after last 2 days in practice. Goodness knows how my #accidentemergency colleagues et al coped all Christmas.
"Opened phone to a fb [Facebook] rant about how it’s GPs fault for not seeing patients or working. Must have been a nightmare!"
With North West Ambulance Service also issuing a plea to the public last night to only call 999 for life-threatening incidents, patients are urged to try 111 online first and 'call on friends or relatives for transport if necessary'. Ms Philbin told the M.E.N. : "It's really difficult to describe what's life-threatening because it sounds like it's common sense, but people get confused.
"The kind of things we think about with life emergencies is very much if somebody is collapsed, if somebody were having a significant chest pain - so it might be a heart attack that might be just presenting itself." She added: "When you can manage your own care, please, please manage your own care."
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