PATIENTS who did not need to be in A&E contributed to a 20 per cent increase in attendances at Colchester General Hospital.

Nearly 300 people visited the Emergency Department on Monday, causing a spike compared with the daily average for this time last year, which was 239.

Coupled with a limited number of beds meant patients had to wait longer than the recommended four hours or less from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.

A spokesman for the Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We experienced high numbers of minors yesterday, but we also had many patients who were seriously ill and needed to be admitted from A&E to a ward.

“The trust regularly runs at a very high bed occupancy rate, in common with virtually all hospital trusts, so beds are not always instantly available on the wards, and patients have to spend longer in A&E.

“Patient flow is also essential. As well as focusing on patients coming in through the front door, you need to discharge patients who have already been admitted as soon as it’s clinically safe to do so.”

Contrary to popular belief, summer attendances are not necessarily lower than in winter, but the colder season sees more seriously ill patients requiring treatment.

The NHS’ Choose Well campaign, backed by the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, encourages the public to try self-care, their community pharmacy, GP surgery or NHS 111 helpline before opting for A&E, in the case of a non life-threatening situation.

Alison Power, director of operations at the trust, said: “As the winter months approach, we’re working closely with our partners including social care, the ambulance service, North East Essex CCG and community hospitals to develop the capacity within all parts of the system in this area to see, and treat people, quickly and effectively when they seek urgent medical attention.

“We would like to apologise to those individuals who had a significantly longer wait then we’d have wished.

“The safety of our patients is always our top priority and we assessed all new arrivals to ensure they were not at any immediate risk.”