Seven ambulances were pictured waiting outside Royal Bolton Hospitals' A&E department on Monday evening (December 19), just hours after the trust warned of 'extremely long waits' for non-urgent patients and urged people to 'think twice' before attending.
On Monday night, as many as seven ambulances were seen waiting outside the hospital. Earlier in the day, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust put out a public appeal, where people were told to consider calling 111, going to the GP or local pharmacist instead due to the stretched A&E department.
It comes just two days before North West Ambulance Service staff are set to stage a walkout, on Wednesday (December 21), with ambulance chiefs saying that sick of injured people in Greater Manchester may have to face getting a taxi to hospital, in a leaked memo to staff.
