Teh One Who Knocks
02-24-2016, 11:58 AM
Jen Mills for Metro.co.uk
http://i.imgur.com/HhoeJ1X.jpg
An A&E department got so busy this weekend that patients were told to go home unless they were dying.
Waiting times at the urgent care centre reached around seven hours on Friday night, with people waiting around on trolleys to see a specialist.
Staff put out a message over the loudspeaker at 11pm saying: ‘We would ask anyone who doesn’t have a life-threatening illness to go home and come back in the morning.’
It happened at North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, north London.
A hospital spokesman said they issued the urgent alert as 450 patients arrived in one shift, including emergency cases brought in by blue-light ambulances.
An eyewitness said he saw more than 100 people in the waiting room, and a dozen people on trolleys along the wall as cubicles were all busy.
The message over a tannoy warned adults they could wait eight hours to see a doctor, prompting many people to leave.
The spokesman said: ‘We can confirm it was it was exceptionally busy on Friday at North Middlesex Hospital with 450 cases coming through the door.
‘That included a number of major cases of resuscitation and blue-light ambulance cases.
‘We were under pressure and we were seeing waits of up to seven hours. We did inform people to come back the next day if their cases weren’t urgent because we were under such pressure.’
North Middlesex A&E has struggled to cope for two years since nearby emergency care centre closed, meaning it had an extra influx of patients.
Campaigners who fought the closure of Chase Farm A&E say North Middlesex was never designed to cope with the increased number of casualties.
Last week NHS England held a crisis summit with local GPs and the hospital to try and turn the situation round.
http://i.imgur.com/HhoeJ1X.jpg
An A&E department got so busy this weekend that patients were told to go home unless they were dying.
Waiting times at the urgent care centre reached around seven hours on Friday night, with people waiting around on trolleys to see a specialist.
Staff put out a message over the loudspeaker at 11pm saying: ‘We would ask anyone who doesn’t have a life-threatening illness to go home and come back in the morning.’
It happened at North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, north London.
A hospital spokesman said they issued the urgent alert as 450 patients arrived in one shift, including emergency cases brought in by blue-light ambulances.
An eyewitness said he saw more than 100 people in the waiting room, and a dozen people on trolleys along the wall as cubicles were all busy.
The message over a tannoy warned adults they could wait eight hours to see a doctor, prompting many people to leave.
The spokesman said: ‘We can confirm it was it was exceptionally busy on Friday at North Middlesex Hospital with 450 cases coming through the door.
‘That included a number of major cases of resuscitation and blue-light ambulance cases.
‘We were under pressure and we were seeing waits of up to seven hours. We did inform people to come back the next day if their cases weren’t urgent because we were under such pressure.’
North Middlesex A&E has struggled to cope for two years since nearby emergency care centre closed, meaning it had an extra influx of patients.
Campaigners who fought the closure of Chase Farm A&E say North Middlesex was never designed to cope with the increased number of casualties.
Last week NHS England held a crisis summit with local GPs and the hospital to try and turn the situation round.