More than 13,000 visits made to Queen Alexandra Hospital's A&E last month amid 'extreme pressures'

Amid ‘extreme pressures’ facing Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), including high levels of staff sickness and increased demand, new NHS England figures show 13,029 patients the city’s emergency department in March.

This was a rise of 14 per cent on the 11,388 visits recorded during February, and 24 per cent more than the 10,530 patients seen in March 2021.

The data also shows attendances rose 28 per cent above the levels seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – when in March 2020, there were 10,122 visits to A&E.

It comes as the hospital declared a critical incident on April 6, leading to ‘huge queues’ of ambulances outside A&E and patients being turned away unless in ‘life-threatening’ condition.

As reported, respiratory consultant and deputy medical director at the hospital – Mark Roland – issued a plea to patients saying he had ‘never seen it more difficult than it is at the present time’ in his 32 years in the profession.

He said: ‘We have over 270 Covid patients in the hospital at the moment so Covid hasn’t gone away for us, it’s causing significant issues for us in terms of being able to use all of our beds.

‘Sickness is affecting our workforce and the workforce who support us including carers in the community. It’s all having a huge impact that’s actually translating into a very crowded emergency department and huge queues for ambulances.’

The majority of all QA Hospital attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 20 per cent were via minor injury units.

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Meanwhile, around per cent per cent were via consultant-led departments with single specialties, such as eye conditions or dental problems.

NHS England figures show 12,199 patients visited A&E at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in March.

That was a rise of 18 per cent on the 10,301 visits recorded during February, and 25 per cent more than the 9,747 patients seen in March 2021.

In March 2020, there were 9,206 visits to A&E at Hampshire Hospitals Trust.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.

That was an increase of 19 per cent compared to February, and 29 per cent more than the 1.7 million seen during March 2021.

Patients in Portsmouth are advised to attend their GP surgery, call 111 or access an urgent treatments centre if not in life-threatening condition.