Wigan's hospital boss aims to discharge 'as many patients as possible' to deal with 'critical incident'

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust yesterday said its A&E at Wigan Infirmary was “full” and urged people not to attend, unless they were in a limb or life-threatening condition.

The A&E unit continued to face “significant pressures” on Wednesday – the same day that ambulance service workers in Wigan and across the country went on strike.

Chief executive Silas Nicholls provided an update on the situation and asked Wiganers for their help.

He said: “At the moment we are experiencing significant pressures on our A&E departments and we have declared an internal critical incident. This means that we are now taking extra steps to help discharge patients and improve the flow of patients through our emergency, while maintaining the care and safety of patients.

"I have got to say, where we are right now is not where we aspire to be in terms of the level of treatment that we are providing to our patients and it is really critical over the next several days that we discharge as many patients as possible.

"You can help us in this by being on hand to help us discharge your loved ones back to their place of normal residence as soon as possible.”

Mr Nicholls urged people to consider alternative sources of healthcare, such as their GP or NHS 111, but said A&E was still open for patients with life-threatening conditions or injuries.

He said a “massive thank you” to staff for their hard work and for the public for their “understanding”.