10,000 more people attended A&E or urgent treatment centres in the North East in May than a year ago - meaning more people went to hospital than during any May since 2016 - the first time the data was collected on a monthly basis.
The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust alone saw 22,200 people through the doors of A&E at the RVI and its non-emergency treatment clinics around the city. That's almost 2,500 more than in April - and the highest figure seen since October last year when winter pressures were combining with Covid to put huge strain on our NHS.
More than 3,000 patients then waited more than four hours to be admitted to hospital, with 59 (53 at County Durham and Darlington's hospitals) having to wait on trolleys for more than 12 hours.
