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23

Jun 2021

Last Updated: 23/06/2021
Health
Health

Harrogate hospital emergency department treating 'unsustainable' patient numbers

by Connor Creaghan

| 23 Jun, 2021
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Dr Helen Law, a consultant in emergency medicine, urges people not to visit the emergency department unless it is essential after figures revealed the number of people doing so has risen by 23 per cent compared with two years ago.

harrogate-district-hospital
Harrogate District Hospital.

A senior consultant at Harrogate District Hospital has urged people not to visit the emergency department unless necessary due to an 'unprecedented' number of patients.

Dr Helen Law, a consultant in emergency medicine, spoke after figures revealed the number of people seeking treatment had risen by 23 per cent compared with two years ago.

Over seven days from June 1 this year, 1,115 patients attended the emergency department compared with 939 patients during the same period in 2019, pre-covid.

The figures were released by West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which represents six NHS trusts in Yorkshire. The six trusts together have seen an average rise in the number of emergency patients over the same period of 17%.



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Dr Law said:

“We are seeing unprecedented numbers of people seeking treatment at our hospital and I know the situation is the same across West Yorkshire.
"We are highlighting this because at the current rate it is simply not sustainable to treat this many people on any long-term basis.
“Emergency departments are seeing significant numbers of patients seeking treatment for issues that are non-emergencies.
"Everyone in the NHS is here because we want to make people better and no one would ever say, ‘Don’t come to hospital’.
"But I would urge anyone planning on coming to the emergency department to ask themselves: ‘Is this an emergency?'"


The increase in patients is not believed to be linked to coronavirus.

The number of covid patients has remained low at Harrogate District Hospital over summer and currently number just three.