Lincolnshire hospital bosses in plea over A&E pressures

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust runs four hospitals, including Lincoln County

Hospital bosses in Lincolnshire are urging people to only call 999 or attend A&E departments for genuine emergencies.

It comes after United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) declared a critical incident on Wednesday.

ULHT chief executive Andrew Morgan said the trust was experiencing "exceptionally high levels of demand".

Compared with this time last year, the number of people attending A&E had risen by 40%, he said.

Admissions via A&E had also risen by a similar figure, he added.

Mr Morgan said more than 600 members of staff were currently off sick - about 7% of the total workforce.

The high number of patients who were not well enough to be discharged was also having an impact on services, along with a rising number of Covid and flu cases, he said.

'Significant challenges'

Some patients had faced waits of up to 35 hours in Lincoln and 24 hours in Boston, according to reports.

Mr Morgan said the delays meant there was the potential for increased harm, adding staff were doing everything possible to ease the situation, including redeploying support workers to the wards.

However, he said many people coming to A&E were "very unwell and require further treatment, but there remain significant challenges in the number of available beds across our hospitals".

The trust, which re-introduced universal mask-wearing across its sites on Wednesday, is urging people to use other services where possible, including NHS 111, GPs and pharmacists.

ULHT runs sites in Lincoln, Grantham, Boston and Louth.

It is the second time in 10 days the trust has declared a critical incident.