Thousands of patients seek help at Wigan's casualty departments in busiest month yet

Record numbers of patients are continuing to seek treatment at Wigan’s A&E department, as doctors urge them to get help elsewhere if possible.
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An “internal critical incident” was declared by Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on Sunday due to the unprecedented demand for care.

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'Critical’ incident declared at Wigan Infirmary

New figures published by NHS England on Thursday show the trust saw more patients in its casualty departments in July than any other month since current records began in June 2015.

Ambulances outside Wigan Infirmary's A&E unitAmbulances outside Wigan Infirmary's A&E unit
Ambulances outside Wigan Infirmary's A&E unit
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There were 14,211 in total - 9,309 at Wigan Infirmary’s A&E department and 4,902 at Leigh Walk-In Centre.

It was the third consecutive month that the trust had seen more than 14,000 people - a threshold previously not been passed since 2015 - and the third busiest month for the A&E unit.

Dr Sanjay Arya, consultant cardiologist and medical director, urged people to ensure they “choose well” when seeking treatment.

He said: “This is a plea from us to the people of Wigan - please choose well. If you need to come to the hospital because you are critically ill or you have had an accident and there is an emergency, we would like you to come to A&E.

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“But if you have an illness that could be managed elsewhere, you could go to your general practice, dentist, pharmacist or optometrist. Please use appropriate resources so that we are able to concentrate on acutely ill patients in A&E and give them the best care.”

He said people were going to A&E with simple injuries and long-term chronic conditions which could be managed elsewhere.

Despite suggestions patients were going to A&E as they were not able to see their GP face-to-face, he said data showed the number seeing GPs was “very high” and returning to pre-pandemic levels.

For patients who do go to A&E, the NHS England data showed some faced long waits to be seen by a clinician in July.

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Only 80.6 per cent of people were seen within the target time of four hours across the trust, which fell to just 70.4 per cent for the A&E unit alone. It was 99.9 per cent at the walk-in centre.

There were 3,155 emergency admissions in total - 448 fewer than in June - but 579 people had to wait for more than four hours for a bed after the decision to admit was made, and 28 waited more than 12 hours.

A&E attendances at hospitals in England last month were 36 per cent higher than a year ago, NHS England said, although this was a reflection of lower-than-usual numbers for July 2020, which were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 2.16 million attendances were recorded last month, up from 1.59 million in July 2020. The equivalent figure for July 2019, a non-pandemic year, was 2.27 million.

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