PRESS readers have voiced their frustrations and anger over long waiting times of up to TEN HOURS at York Hospital's A&E department - and say GPs need to see more patients to alleviate the problem.
The comments follow our story today revealing the pressures A&E is under at the moment.
York Hospital's A&E department has warned publicly that it is now "extremely busy".
The warning comes from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as demand for A&E is up more than 40 per cent since last summer.
NHS England figures show 19,876 patients visited A&E at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in July this year - 41 per cent more than last July.
Press reader Steph Mccarthy spent eight hours in A&E on Monday night and posted:
"I spent eight hours sat waiting to see a doctor on Monday night from 7pm till 3.30am on Tuesday morning. I spoke to the doctor for ten minutes for him to say my bloods were fine.
"I then went to my GP on Tuesday afternoon as I could barely stand.
"They looked at my bloods from the night before and told me my infection levels were elevated.
"No wonder I felt so shocking. But sat in A&E for that amount of time when you were already severely dehydrated and unable to keep fluids in your system was an absolute joke."
She also posted that it was "awful" to see some of the other patients during her wait.
"It was awful to see people coming in floods of tears with like chest pains but wouldn't wait the ten hours showing on the board.
"And there was a guy that had fallen off his bike and gone unconscious for a bit. A Deliveroo guy bought him in as they had been waiting hours for an ambulance, then he sat there for an hour then said he wasn't waiting."
Hilary Patchwork Platt shared her experience of A&E too. "I was told the person with me had to leave even though I have very limited mobility. I was in a lot of pain couldn't move, needed the loo and had to go home due to pain as no one took any notice at all.
"I am lucky as the infection I had has gone down but could have gone the other way!
"I informed them I was immunosuppressed, disabled, ill and had mobility issues apart from the reason I went in. It's not care at all. I won't be going again."
Many readers posted that they thought the problem was largely due to patients being unable to get a GP appointment.
Annabel Martin posted: "My daughter had a bad back. GP told her just to go A&E."
Sandy Lightfoot posted: "GPs need to help more now."
Cheryle Yates added: "With GPs still not seeing people this I feel will only get worse. GPs need to start seeing people to take the pressure off the hospital."
A spokesperson for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our emergency department is extremely busy at the moment. If you are not seriously ill, the emergency department may not be the best place for you to get the treatment you need and you may wait for a long time.
“If you need medical help, contact the NHS 111 service. They will be able to make sure you get the right treatment in the right place. You can call NHS 111 or visit online 111.nhs.uk.”
“If you do have a life-threatening illness or injury then you should continue to dial 999.”
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