Only call 999 or attend A&E if your condition is life-threatening, plead health chiefs

UNPRECEDENTED PRESSURE ON REGION'S CASUALTY DEPARTMENTS

- PAUL BRITTON

AS PRESSURE on the NHS mounts in Greater Manchester like never before, a hospital visitor has revealed a stark and shocking picture of just one accident and emergency department, telling of patients sat in 13 hour-long queues to be triaged and of corridors inside 'piling up with beds.

It comes as the latest official NHS data reveals a total of 539 patients were admitted to hospitals in Greater Manchester on Boxing Day alone, with the figures illustrating patients were coming in faster than they could be discharged.

Available hospital beds in Greater Manchester, meanwhile, are said to be almost full - the data shows occupancy is currently at around 98 per cent, with around a tenth of all beds filled with Covid-positive patients.

As NHS bosses issued an 'urgent' plea to the public to stay away from A&E units amid what they called 'unprecedented levels of attendance, the M.E.N. can reveal hospitals here have been fluctuating between 'internal alert levels' activated to allow additional steps to be taken to maintain safe services for patients and help staff cope with growing pressures.

One source said January was usually the busiest time for the NHS, with spikes in demand expected, but said services were already starting the New Year 'from a really challenging position! The NHS in Greater Manchester said the situation at A&Es was also being hampered by staff sickness and an 'increased prevalence of flu! And for the first time, bosses also urged people with flu-like or Covid symptoms into the new year to stay at home to protect the NHS and the general population.

One acute care professor said taken in its entirety, the situation has led to pressure 'beyond anything we have experienced before?

The NHS has also revealed: Paediatric services remain pressured, with high bed occupancy and high numbers of children admitted with respiratory illnesses