An A & E department in Cornwall is at “breaking point” as the number of patients waiting over four hours and number of ambulances queuing outside has increased beyond manageable levels, reports Cornwall Live.
It comes after an extremely busy night on Wednesday with reports of ambulances queuing outside the emergency department.
A patient called Billy Billy got in touch with Pirate FM, the local radio station, saying: “I’m currently sat waiting with my sick mother in an ambulance outside the hospital. The paramedics have said that there are a third of Cornwall’s fleet of ambulances waiting in the car park”.
Extra staff have now been drafted in to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, Truro.
Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske remains on level four alert, previously known as ‘black alert’, a status it was given just before Christmas.
The pressure on the hospital means that wait times are up and routine operations may be cancelled.
Director of communications at the hospital, Garth Davies, said: “We are very busy. We’re not about to call a major incident, but we have opened additional areas and brought in additional staff.
“There is a high volume of patients, like in many other hospitals across the country at this time of year. We are doing as much as we can to promote other services.
“Unfortunately, in recent weeks we have seen this kind of level of ambulances coming in and this level of delays.
“We have rarely been off level four alert in the past few weeks.
“The whole system is working at its highest level and we will continue to manage the people who come through our front door and look after them.”
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