Hospitals in Lanarkshire are “working past most capability”, the well being board has stated, with many sufferers ready greater than 10 hours to be seen in accident and emergency.
Bosses at NHS Lanarkshire have now urged individuals to think about options to A&E and to anticipate lengthy waits as stress on its three acute websites continues to mount.
Russell Coulthard, deputy director of acute providers, stated “our three acute websites are full” with resurging coronavirus infections straining the well being board.
“Covid-19 numbers are on the rise with 194 Covid sufferers throughout the three acute websites in the present day (Friday). To place that in perspective, numbers had fallen to 66 in the midst of final month however have been rising ever since and present no signal of levelling off or lowering,” he stated.
“The knock-on impact of that's we've got workers absences attributable to Covid and we proceed to face important staffing challenges throughout well being providers and our workers are struggling to manage.
“We even have wards closed throughout our websites attributable to Covid which once more reduces beds accessible to sufferers and creates additional further pressures whereas we try to recuperate providers and deal with sufferers who want our care.
“These mixed pressures imply that we've got needed to take some tough choices. These embody reintroducing important visiting throughout our three acute hospitals earlier this week.
“The protection of our sufferers and workers is our prime precedence and we're taking all essential motion to make sure protected and efficient affected person care and handle the present pressures. We're making the perfect use of the workers and beds which might be accessible to allow us to deal with sufferers appropriately.”
The ten-hour wait confronted by some sufferers in emergency departments throughout Lanarkshire is nicely in extra of its four-hour goal.
Dr Calvin Lightbody, A&E advisor at College Hospital Hairmyres, is urging individuals in Lanarkshire to entry the precise care they want in a bid to maintain emergency departments free for these with emergency care wants.
He stated: “We're seeing exceptionally excessive numbers of individuals attending our three emergency departments. This can be very busy and overcrowded however we're working our greatest to attempt to get by way of the massive variety of sufferers.
“If in case you have an emergency situation similar to chest ache, respiratory difficulties, extreme ache or main bleeding then you must come to A&E as ordinary and we're very a lot open for enterprise.”
Earlier this 12 months NHS Lanarkshire, which declared a black alert, advised its GPs to focus solely on essentially the most severe instances because it creaked underneath the Omicron wave.
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