Some hopped or limped in, the more seriously injured arrived by ambulance. A teenager was treated for an injury sustained during an early morning netball practice, a council worker for a stiff knee picked up during a recycling round. A tree surgeon was stitched up after a close encounter with a saw.
Most arrived fearing a long and tiresome wait but the majority were pleased with the service they received.
Eleri Davies, 17, arrived at Gloucestershire Royal hospital accident and emergency department on crutches, having tripped over a teammates’s leg during netball training. She was back out within about an hour having been told that she had sprained her ankle.
“My mum warned me that I’d be in there for ages but it wasn’t too bad at all. The atmosphere was a bit tense in there, a bit quiet and awkward, but it was fine.”
On Monday, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal in Gloucester and Cheltenham General, declared a major internal critical incident for both hospitals as their A&E departments struggled to cope with an influx of patients.
On Tuesday morning the number of people waiting to be seen climbed steadily. At 10.30am, 19 people were queuing to see a doctor at the Royal, with the longest waiting time being 128 minutes. By 1pm the number was up to 28.
Hospital bosses have asked people to “think very carefully” before attending emergency departments.
Paul McKenzie, 46, arrived in the early hours of Tuesday with an infected hip. By mid-morning he was still in a cubicle in A&E waiting for an inpatient bed. “But he’s being looked after, he’s in the right place,” said his father, Nick.
It was painful watching council worker Harry Mann, 27, hop and hobble in. Still, he was hopping and hobbling back out within about 20 minutes having been reassured that he had suffered no lasting damage to his knee. “They were very good – professional and sympathetic,” he said.
Injured workman hops painfully in to Glouc Royal hospital - he'll probably have a lengthy wait. pic.twitter.com/F0tTGWovBY
— steven morris (@stevenmorris20) January 6, 2015
Tree surgeon Laurence Harrington, 36, needed five or six stitches in his sliced hand. “I was only in there an hour. No problems. They told me to take a couple of days off work but I’m going straight back. I’m fine.”
But the Gloucestershire hospitals may not be out of the woods yet. The number of patients waiting at the Royal was expected to edge up as the chilly day wore on. Other sites were also busy by early afternoon, with patients at the Cirencester minor injuries unit waiting up to 136 minutes.
Dr Helen Miller, clinical chair of NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “It is really important to remember that hospital emergency departments are designed to treat serious injuries and emergencies.”
