Staff are “working tirelessly around the clock” to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible as the Darlington hospital – and others under the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust umbrella – continues to battle high numbers over winter.
It comes as the number of people in hospital with flu in England continues to rise, which is nearly five times the level compared to the start of December.
An average of 5,408 flu patients were in beds in England each day last week, including 256 in critical care, which is up 21% from the previous week.
Recent NHS have also revealed that about three-quarters of patients who arrived at A&E at the CDDFT last month were seen within four hours.
The NHS standard is for 95% of patients to be seen within four hours – however, as part of a recovery plan, it aims for 78% of patients to be seen within this time frame by March 2025.
There were 25,797 visits to A&E at the trust in December and of them, 19,864 were seen within four hours – accounting for 77% of arrivals, falling slightly below the recovery target.
Several hospitals across County Durham and Teesside have reintroduced face masks in some clinical areas in a bid to prevent further spread of infection.
Patients and visitors at University Hospitals Tees sites are being asked to wear a mask – which includes the likes of the University Hospital of North Tees, University Hospital of Hartlepool, and the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.
At the moment, the Darlington Memorial Hospital is not requiring people to wear masks.
A spokesperson for CDDFT – which also looks after the University Hospital of North Durham and Bishop Auckland Hospital – said: “Like all NHS Trusts at this time of year, we experience periods where our services become very busy due to increased demand.
Recommended reading:
Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Click here.
“Our staff are working tirelessly around the clock to ensure patients are seen as quickly as possible. We are urging patients to come only to A&E for emergency care.
“If anyone is experiencing flu-like symptoms please consider using pharmacy services first and to only go to A&E, if you are seriously unwell.
“For other non-life-threatening conditions, please consider alternative options such as your local pharmacy, NHS 111 and urgent treatment centres to avoid long waiting times.”