Patients are being told this morning (Wednesday, January 8) that the average time in the A&E department at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester is 16 hours. There are also 109 people in the department, according to the latest figures at 9.22am.
The average wait to see a clinician is four hours at GRH A&E department. It comes as NHS hospitals across the country grapple with high demand amid rising flu cases.
Several NHS trusts have declared critical incidents due to “exceptionally high demands” in emergency departments, with a patient at one hospital forced to wait 50 hours to be admitted to a ward. Around 5,000 hospital beds in England are occupied with patients with flu.
At Cheltenham General Hospital there were just seven people in the A&E department with an average wait to see a clinician of 17 minutes. The average time in the department is 30 minutes at 9.22am.
North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs Southmead Hospital, urged both the public and staff to wear surgical face masks in its “emergency zone”. It said: “This is to reduce the risk of infection and to enhance the safety of all concerned.”
Latest waiting times will be added to the blog below.