HEALTH trusts in the north have experienced a weekend of emergency department pressures, with appeals made for people not to attend unless seriously ill.
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust urged only people who are “acutely unwell” to attend accident & emergency wards as it warned of “extreme pressure” at its hospitals on Sunday.
The trust issued an appeal to the public and staff as visitor numbers grew at the emergency departments of Craigavon Area Hospital and Newry’s Daisy Hil Hospital.
In a statement posted to social media, a trust spokesperson said: “Our hospitals are under extreme pressure with significant numbers waiting on beds. Staff are doing their very best in difficult circumstances but there is a long wait in EDs for anyone with less serious symptoms.
It added: “We ask any available staff to contact the bed manager.”
A follow-up post said staff were “working extremely hard all day, prioritising our sickest patients”.
“There are still many patients waiting on admission and long waits in our EDs. Please help us to help those who need us most and only come to our EDs if you are acutely unwell,” the post stated.
The warning followed similar appeals by the Belfast Trust on Saturday relating to the children’s emergency department at the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Western Trust about Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital. Altnagelvin had 90 people waiting at one stage on Saturday at its ED, with 34 waiting to be admitted to the hospital.
“We would therefore ask the public to please consider whether our ED is the best place for their particular condition,” a trust spokesperson said on Saturday.
