Hospital urges Islanders not to crowd A&E during bed shortage

Sunday 18 December 2016

Winter is putting pressure on the Hospital's A&E department and staff are urging Islanders with coughs and colds to see their GP or go to the chemist if there's no real emergency.

Health say they are seeing around a third more people coming in every day with non-urgent ailments and it's led to overcrowding, delays, and last week they had to cancel five elective procedures because of a shortage of hospital beds.

They say there's been an increase in the number of confirmed cases of flu and all the extra cases they are having to deal with is leaving them with a shortage of beds.

The Hospital's Managing Director Helen O'Shea said: “At this time of year, the hospital tends to be busy due to what we call winter pressures.

“We know there’s a lot of coughs, colds and flu around at the moment, but we need to politely remind people not to come to the Emergency Department unless there is a genuine need. If it’s not an emergency, people should contact their local pharmacist or GP for advice.

“Anyone with norovirus symptoms should not come to the Emergency Department due to the risk of cross infection. Norovirus spreads easily and we want to protect other patients and staff from becoming infected too.”

Health say evening and weekend cover is available for non-emergency matters via the Out-of-Hours GP Service, based in the outpatients department in the Hospital and can be reached via the switchboard at the Hospital on 442000.

Those needing to use the Out-of-Hours Service do not need to pay at the time, as invoices are sent to patients via their GP practice.