Hospital beds come under pressure
People were yesterday urged not to attend the accident and emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary unless it is a genuine emergency.
Alerts are issued once the hospitals’ bed capacity - there are 1,350 beds between HRI and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham - are 95 to 99 per cent full.
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Dr Mo Aye, clinical director for medicine at the trust, said: “We are seeing large number of people attend at present who could potentially be treated more appropriately in the community or their own homes. Changes to temperature - cold to mild, mild to cold - often exacerbate chronic conditions, but that doesn’t mean people need to come to hospital necessarily.”
Last month there were eight red alerts. The A&E department run by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust is set to be transformed over the next 18 months, with brand new facilities for walk-in patients, children, and patients requiring urgent and emergency care.