Health chief pleads with public to only come to A&E for critical emergencies

dailyrecord.co.uk:

NHS Ayrshire & Arran has today advised that inpatient occupancy levels at University Hospital Ayr and Crosshouse “remain high.”The health board’s warning comes as they experience “high demand” for services across their whole system.Demand for unscheduled care, primary care, acute hospital services, community and social care services are all being stretched to the limit.Top brass have also admitted that their busy emergency departments have “become even busier” with patients waiting for admissions into hospital.Jacqueline Nicol, director – University Hospital Crosshouse, acute services, said: “Winter has always been a busy time for our health and care services, particularly over the festive period.

We continue to experience significant and sustained pressures across our whole health and care system.“The demands on our emergency departments mean that patients are waiting for significantly longer than usual to be seen and assessed.“However, the safety of patients and staff remains our top priority.“We continue to prioritise those patients who require urgent care.

How long you will wait will depend on the seriousness of your condition and how many patients with more serious or urgent needs arrive in the department while you are waiting.“To help alleviate these pressures and make sure patients are seen as quickly as possible, we are asking the public to only attend the Emergency Department if they have a critical emergency or require urgent care.”Members of the public are reminded to use the most appropriate service for their need – for example, self care, NHS Inform or primary care – and that the Emergency Departments should only be used in an emergency.There are a number of alternative ways to access care so that you get