Warning as RD&E hospital's A&E department experiencing 'severe pressures'

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital's A&E department is "experiencing severe pressures" and urging people to only use the service in life-threatening situations.

The NHS trust in charge of the hospital said a large increase in the number of people attending the emergency department was being compounded by a rise in Covid patients.

Members of the public are being asked to only use the A&E service "for life-threatening cases" and only call NHS 111 if they need urgent care.

A spokesperson also requested people get in touch with the Family Liaison Service if they can help with a loved-one's discharge arrangements.

Cassie Worth, an emergency department consultant at the hospital, told ITV West Country: "Everywhere across the whole system is really, really busy. When we get to Opal 4 it means we have to set in place a process to try to address the issues that we're facing.

"This is very rare. We try and avoid going into this situation by working together and looking for ways of resolving issues before we get to this place, but unfortunately it has been a bit of a perfect storm with lots of things happening at the same time and we have ended up in this situation, but we hope it won't last for too long."

The consultant also revealed the hospital has seen increasing demand since the easing of lockdown and an influx of holidaymakers in the West Country.

"Coronavirus cases are rising across the country, and they are rising across the region as well. Not by a huge amount, but they are starting to go up, and we are starting to see a few more people coming into hospital," she added.

"Of course, we've got a slightly reduced capacity because Covid hasn't gone away. Even though this is the third wave, in between the first, second and third waves, Covid never disappeared and it's everybody's responsibility to keep maintaining hands, face and space, and to take their vaccinations if offered.

"I think we should all be concerned that coronavirus cases are starting to rise again. Although I said it had never gone away, we were seeing a decline in cases, and of course it's a concern to all of us that it is starting to rise again.

"There are things that we can all do to protect the NHS, like calling 111 and using different aspects of the system including primary care."

The NHS has stressed that people should continue to attend hospital appointments and seek medical attention if it is needed.