By Public urged to avoid Grimsby A&E
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust have renewed an appeal urging people to avoid the A&E department in Grimsby unless it is absolutely necessary.
The hospital says it is experiencing ‘extremely high levels of demand’, and insists the difficulty is not related to staffing issues.
Instead, a spokesperson said it is seeing unusual levels of significantly ill patients and has a high number of patients already being cared for who are not yet well enough to be discharged.
In recent weeks the department has seen between 200 and 250 patients each day.
The trust said: “Once again, we’re appealing to you to avoid coming to our Emergency Department at Grimsby, if at all possible, due to extremely high levels of demand.
“Our teams are continuing to do everything they can to ensure that if you need us, you will be given the care you need. However, our Emergency Department is full and waiting times are significantly higher than we would like.
“This is due to a combination of high numbers of patients already being cared for in our hospitals, who are not yet well enough to be discharged, coupled with high demand in our Emergency Department with significantly ill patients.
“While we are happy we have the right level of staffing in place, and those staff are working incredibly hard to see patients as quickly as possible, recently we have been seeing between 200 and 250 patients in the department every day. On average, 18% of these patients need to be admitted, which is leading to delays.”
A spokesperson added: “If you need to come to hospital, please do so. We are always here for you when you need us.”
People are being asked to contact the NHS 111 line, speaking to a GP or pharmasist, or calling the Single Point of Access clinical team on 01472 256256 for advice before attending hospital.
