Hospitals in Devon warn people against visiting A&E due to risk of being overwhelmed
Watch Annie Knowlson's report
Hospitals in Devon have issued a stark warning to people in the region as the emergency departments risk being overwhelmed.
Large numbers of people falling ill with flu, Covid, Norovirus and parents worried about Invasive Strep A this winter has meant services across hospitals in the region to be at the brink of collapse.
It's meant patients waiting to be seen in emergency departments are forced to wait hours on trolleys in the corridors.
At the Royal Devon and Exeter's Emergency Department one woman was left waiting for more than 14 hours after she slipped on black ice getting off a bus.
She said: "I had to leave because they were so busy. The stress they're under is just ridiculous - it's not really fair.
But after waking up the next day unable to see anything in her right eye, she came to A&E again, only to be left waiting for hours once more.
Whilst another patient was left waiting seven hours to have leg manipulated back in place and said: "They're literally run off their feet. The staff's just manic, it's just horrible."
Professor Adrian Harris from the Royal Devon NHS Foundation Trust said: "In terms of the amount of patients we have queuing outside in ambulances, across Devon for instance last night we had them queuing outside each and every emergency department.
"I have never seen that before - I think we have categorical evidence that we're in a really challenging position."
Recent figures for the South West show that the number of people in hospital with Covid nearly doubled in ten days.
The number of 111 calls per day in Devon more than doubled inside a week from 1433 on December 5 to 3379 on December 11.
Professor Mark Hamilton Chief Medical Officer of University Hospital in Plymouth said: "There's an extreme amount of pressure, so Devon as a system is currently in critical condition as we speak which means that we have to take a number of actions to try and get ambulances out to those patients that need them."
With more nursing strikes planned before Christmas patients with routine operations and procedures are being warned their treatment may be affected and appointments cancelled.
Professor Mark Hamilton added: "There are still many options for people to use such as accessing 111 and their general practice before they try and come to the emergency department."