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Walsall Manor Hospital in plea on A&E pressure

Patients were today urged to only visit Walsall Manor's A&E if their condition is serious or life-threatening as staff struggle to cope with an influx of people.

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The department has seen a surge in patients in recent months and bosses say services are becoming stretched. They say people should only use A&E if they have conditions such as heavy blood loss, chest pain or broken bones.

Mr Amir Khan, medical director at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We are continuing to see high levels of activity throughout the hospital, particularly in our A&E department.

"We want the people of Walsall and the wider West Midlands to help support us during these times of high pressure and consider sensibly whether they need to come to A&E or whether they could be treated elsewhere."

Bosses asked residents to consider using other services such as pharmacies, GP practices, Walsall walk-in centre and the GP out-of-hours.

An increase in the number of people using the accident and emergency department from the Staffordshire area is behind the surge in numbers.

Following yesterday's announcement the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust will be dissolved an extra £14million is to be ploughed into Walsall Manor.

Officials have asked for the cash to help cope a further increase in numbers from Staffordshire using the site. Between April and December there were 20,737 emergency admissions to the hospital with the numbers through the doors up every month.

Bosses expect to exceed their target of 25,098 over the year. In 2011/12 the number of admissions was just 22,128.

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