September 15, 2021 9.56 am This story is over 42 months old

Patients queue outside Grimsby A&E as demand soars

People are being told to find alternative services

A&E patients were forced to queue outside the Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby as it faced exceptional demand.

A video taken at the scene on Monday, September 13 showed around 20 people waiting in a queue. Some were unable to walk unaided and others continued to queue inside the reception area.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said people were asked to wait outside so that social distancing measures could be enforced.

It told BBC Look North there was not enough space for those who had ‘walked in’ to use the service, and added that people were being spoken to and assessed in the queue.

The trust said it is experiencing high demand for the A&E and for beds, a situation echoed across many other health trusts in the county.

Hospitals in Lincoln and Boston are also experiencing high demand.

Kay Parrish, who used to work in the NHS, told BBC reporters she took her friend there with chest pains she was shocked at what she saw.

“I went to the A&E reception and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“I asked if there was any triage going on and they said there was a man out there. I said there was no man. He came every 10 to 15 minutes and took people’s names.”

Lincolnshire NHS trusts have asked that patients consider alternative resources such as GPs, Pharmacies and the 101 service.