More than 5,300 people went to St Mary’s Hospital last month seeking emergency treatment — 1,300 people more than in the same month last year.
As pressures continue to rise, the latest figures from NHS England show 5,328 people visited the Isle of Wight’s emergency departments in March 2022, compared to 4,013 people in March 2021.
Of the 1,327 people who needed to be admitted urgently, 600 waited more than 4 hours for a hospital bed.
Data shows 34 people waited over 12 hours before being moved to a ward.
At A&E, 40% of its 1,305 visitors faced a wait of more than 4 hours, before being treated or admitted. However, all 2,075 people who went to the urgent treatment centre (UTC), which deals with minor injuries and is separate from A&E, were seen and treated or admitted within 4 hours.
Earlier this month, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust issued an urgent plea for Islanders to only seek help in an emergency, amid a perfect storm of rising service pressures, increasing COVID-19 rates and demand for beds.
Significant and sustained pressures at St Mary’s Hospital meant health bosses were having to prioritise patients in most need of emergency care. Some were turned away and referred to more appropriate services.
Other hospitals in the country reached such high levels of pressure they declared critical incidents.
The advice from the NHS Trust is if you think you need A&E, call 111 first.
It will get a lot worse if the Council’s housing strategy goes through.
hardly surprising that there are more people visiting the hospital in march 2022, than march 2021 – being that we had a “stay at home” order still in place, with significant covid lockdown measures still in place then.
the pressure as they so eloquently complain about, is just society returning to normal – the NHS needs to step up and remember that they cannot have lockdown levels of patients now.
Councillors need to read and understand this article before any more housing applications are approved by the planning department and the Councillors. Affordable housing is urgently needed for island families but the more expensive houses are very attractive to second home buyers or people wishing to leave the mainland. In the row of nine new properties near me only two have born and bred islanders in them. Six were taken by people moving from the mainland during the first lockdown. This article proves that the infrastructure cannot cope now so either we have to build a larger hospital or put the brakes on expanding the island population.
I’m not surprised, the only way to get medical attention. Trying to get an appointment with a local nurse at your own medical centre is impossible and as for seeing a doctor, well one wonders if they exist at all these days. The hospital service is over run because of a nearly non-existent GP service.
Totally agree. The government needs to overall the GP’s and get them working back to normal. Who do they think they are, an anomaly ? Everyone else has had to return to normal life , why shouldn’t they. They can wear PPE and get us to wear a mask , just do the job they are paid to do . Give st marys a break to do what they have to do.
The real problem isn’t GPs not wanting to see patients. The real problem is there are far too few of them. Considering the time it takes to train a GP from scratch (10 years) we are only now seeing the effects of peak Government austerity.
The pillorying of GPs in the Tory press is also putting off newly qualified doctors from becoming GPs. I know a young doctor who has just qualified. He considered becoming a GP but took one look at the abuse GPs are getting in the press and and online and decided against it.
As for him coming to the Isle of Wight for anything? The Isle of Wight is known as the place that medical careers go to die. Poor training, poor prospects, awful working conditions.
I honestly feel that one of the biggest problems is getting through to a gp and obtaining a doctors appointment. Im sure everyone just waits til doctors are closed and then calls 111 and off they go to st marys.
i spent over an hour trying to contact my gp,then did an online e consult and never heard back
NHS=joke
People shouldn’t use A&E as a GP surgery.
No they shouldn’t sunshine but using a GP surgery too see one is impossible
Get them on half pay untill they do job we pay them for! Pre covid fgs .covid lazyness is still rife
Some people have no choice simply because they can’t get anyone to answer the phone at the doctors or because they are told to wait 3 weeks for an appointment in pain.
its ok now we are out of euroup all this new money the country,s got we can build a new bigger hospital……
they used covid as a tool you dont even see a doctor no more..
I’m sure this is all because the local GP’s will no longer see anybody. Anyone with a cough to a severed head are having to go to hospital to be seen these days. When are we going to be seen by our GP again?
So so Sad this lovely hospital and all their Amazing staff are always under terrible pressure, I cannot fault the doctors or nurses looking after me through my Cancer treatments .
Please please Councillors wake up stop making The hospital staff keep
Working under awful pressure , we don’t need more houses we need more schools and money to make our Only hospital fit for purpose
Amazing staff? What have you been prescribed, hallucinogens?
Wait and see what happens if doctors get their way and only work 9 till 5. I say cut their wages
A GP goes through 10 years of training and racks up a huge student loan while ad medical school for 5 years. If you cut their pay they will just go to the private sector or overseas. There is a global shortage of doctors and the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, not to mention most EU countries, already pay more then the NHS.
Wait and see what happens if you cut their wages.
Clue: They can already get better pay and conditions in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, not to mention most of the EU.