Patients face seven-hour wait as hospital feels strain

Photo: Darren Robinson

THE Royal Oldham Hospital’s accident and emergency unit: high pressure.

THE Royal Oldham Hospital has again urged patients to stay away from A&E unless there’s a real emergency

The department treated a record number of patients during Good Friday and Saturday.

Despite warnings in advance of the Easter weekend, the Royal Oldham saw 289 patients on Good Friday and had treated 216 patients by 6pm on Saturday. Staff said many people were waiting up to seven hours to be treated - for minor ailments such as coughs and colds.

Damien Finn, interim chief executive at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said on Saturday: “I have been at each of our four hospital sites. All staff are working incredibly hard across all of our emergency departments and putting patient safety first.

“Staff at the A&E department in Oldham are finding the high levels of demand and pressure on our services particularly difficult. The Easter bank holiday weekend is a real challenge. On average 18 patients were coming in every hour.

“Unfortunately patients, some of whom could find alternatives, experienced extreme delays. We had to deflect some ambulances to our Fairfield A&E to ease the pressure on our staff. “We appealed to the public to think twice and make sure they chose the right service for minor illnesses, ailments and injuries. “People should only attend A&E if they have a serious health condition or in a genuine emergency.”

The Easter rush followed an equally-difficult December, in which A&E staff saw over 1,300 patients from December 24-28.