A hospital has issued an urgent warning asking people only to visit A+E in an emergency as they are "overflowing" with patients. Bosses at the Royal Bolton Hospital say there are currently four times more people in their accident and emergency department than they have space for.
As a result, waiting times are a number of hours. In a starkly worded message on their Facebook message, the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, have now asked people not to attend A+E just because they are struggling to access treatment elsewhere, but only to do so it is an emergency or is life-threatening.
"We are overflowing," the trust said. "We know it can be difficult to access the right healthcare service, but just coming to A&E isn’t right. If you’ve had an emergency, an accident or something that is life-threatening, please come to us.
