Kettering General Hospital is currently under intense emergency pressures and staff are urging local people to use NHS services appropriately and stay away from A & E wherever possible.
Over the last 24 hours the Trust has seen 284 A&E attendances – 30-40 more than usual.
A significant number of patients have attended with minor conditions and as a result waited four to six hours – and then often been referred to their GP.
The pressure has continued today (Tuesday, March 6) with 126 patients before 2pm.
The high pressure situation – which is also a theme across the rest of the UK – means that both hospital and community services are very full.
Kettering General Hospital’s Acting Chief Executive Rebecca Brown said: “We are under extreme pressure at the moment. We do have a high rate of patients who are appropriately being admitted to hospital and more than half of patients in hospital at the moment are over 75. These patient – often with multiple medical conditions – need to be our priority. Local people can help by not attending A&E for conditions which they could wait and see their GP for. Or maybe they could access other NHS services such as the Corby Urgent Care Centre, NHS 111 advice line or their local pharmacist.”
Maintaining a good level of discharges is also important with hospitals struggling to maintain enough discharges to free up space for emergency admissions.
KGH Medical Director, Prof Andrew Chilton, said: “We would urge local people to do everything they can to support discharges from hospital. Anything people can do to help their relatives to return home - or into appropriate community care – as soon as possible is very helpful because any delays in discharge only add greater pressure on the hospitals’ front lines.”
With this in mind, I would encourage constituents to do all they can to help ease the pressures by ensuring that any visit to the A & E or NHS service is entirely appropriate.