ALMOST one in three people who attend A&E at York Hospital should be seeking help elsewhere, the hospital has said.

A consultant in A&E in York has told how the department’s staff regularly deal with patients attending with minor problems such as sore throats and colds as it struggles to deal with unprecedented numbers of patients.

Dr Stephen Lord, clinical director and consultant in emergency medicine from York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Some of the most common reasons people attend A&E when it is not an emergency situation are sore throats, coughs and colds, repeat prescriptions, bruises, small cuts that have stopped bleeding, and flare ups of long standing conditions that are usually managed by their GP.

“We appreciate people are worried when they don’t feel well but for conditions such as these a GP or pharmacy should be the first port of call. If in doubt people should phone the 111 helpline for advice.”

In recent weeks the hospital trust has declared a major alert as services came under pressure. The hospital has estimated that 25 to 30 per cent of the people going through A&E should have sought help elsewhere.

The latest figures for the week ending January 15 show York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust show nearly 3000 people were seen by A&E, with 751 emergency admissions.

And every day last week was declared to be red alert, known as OPEL three, the most up to date figures from January 9 to 13 show. This means the hospital trust experienced “major pressures compromising patient flow”.

Some 45 per cent of NHS trusts in England declared a major alert last week as services came under pressure.

York Press:

Sixty-eight trusts out of 152 raised the alarm at least once due to bed shortages and problems managing the flow of patients through A&E.

An NHS England spokeswoman, said: “Demand moderated somewhat last week, but A&E departments remain under pressure, with flu cases set to increase and norovirus still higher than last year.”

The NHS in York has emphasised that emergency care is for illness or injuries that are serious or life threatening.

Other options to be considered include visiting your pharmacist for common illnesses such as a cold and the flu, going to your GP for an illness or injury that won’t go away and calling 111 for illnesses and injuries that need treating fast.

Mike Proctor, the deputy chief executive of York Hospital trust, said the hospital’s difficulties began over the Christmas period.

Speaking at a meeting of the city’s health and wellbeing board this week, he said: “I want to acknowledge the enormous pressures on the hospital over Christmas and the New Year.

"It was pretty unprecedented so compared to the previous year there was a 14 per cent increase in ambulance arrivals.

“There was a 22 per cent increase in people attending the A&E department, many of those patients were acutely ill.”