Doncaster hospital's 'stay away from A&E' warning as pressure mounts on NHS

Bosses at Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust have asked patients not to use A&E as coronavirus cases rise in Doncaster, putting pressure on already stretched resources.

The Trust’s three hospitals – Doncaster Royal Infimary, Worksop’s Bassetlaw Hospital and Mexborough’s Montagu Hospital are currently caring for 140 coronavirus patients -111 of which are at Doncaster Royal Infirmary with numbers continuing to rise.

A spokesman said: “Please only use our Emergency Departments at Doncaster and Bassetlaw if you need genuine emergency care.

“The Same Day Health Centre, your local practice, pharmacies and NHS 111 can all provide care for non-emergency illnesses and injuries and this will leave our Emergency Department teams free to concentrate on those patients in the most urgent need.

“Please only come to our hospital if it’s a genuine emergency or you have a scheduled appointment. Thank you very much for your support.”

Yesterday, DBTH announced a further 10 coronavirus deaths at its hospitals in the last 24 hours.

Chiefs have pleaded with local people to follow the rules in a bid to avoid being placed in Tier 3 – the very high alert tier of the Government’s three tier coronavirus restrictions.

There are growing fears South Yorkshire could be placed in the highest tier as rates continue to spiral in the region.

There have been more than 250 coronavirus deaths in Doncaster since the start of the pandemic.