ONE patient has attended Bradford’s hugely under pressure A&E department 24 times in the space of three months, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal today.

Figures also show a total of 2,029 people paid two visits or more to the emergency unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary between February and April this year.

In that same period, 8,008 patients attended A&E once.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ Trust has now identified 28 people who habitually turn up at A&E and said it is working with other health bodies to tackle the problem and get appropriate care for them.

The trust’s medical director Dr Bryan Gill said the impact of ‘inappropriate’ attendances for minor ailments such as coughs, colds and muscle sprains was far reaching as it risked the safety of other sicker patients and the health of hard-pressed staff.

About 400 people a day are seeking treatment at A&E causing staff on other wards to be drafted in at the busiest times.

Dr Gill said: “There is a danger and risk to patients who can’t be seen quick enough when we are dealing with the flood of patients who are coming through our doors.

“Our sole focus is the safety of patient care but the risks increase with the greater the demand. Patients you would expect to get back to and review might not get that review.”

“Once we go over 360 patients a day, there’s a significant impact. To get just 20 fewer people a day would make all the difference.”

Staff at other wards across the hospital are having to be drafted into A&E at least twice a week to get all the patients seen, he said.

Dr Gill said: “We absolutely don’t want people not to come to A&E if they are sick or have had an accident.

“People have valid reasons for coming here probably because they don’t know where else to get help.

“Our message is that there are other places to go and get help for non-serious and non-life threatening conditions rather than here and you’d probably get that help quicker.

“The best place is the 111 service but there are still people who tell me they didn’t know about it.”

Patients attending Bradford’s A&E department are having to wait longer than the national average.

The UK average of patients being seen and treated in A&E within four hours is 86 per cent but last month BRI has been averaging between 80 to 85 per cent, far off from the Government’s 95 per cent target.

In the past 12 months an A&E Delivery Board has been created, involving BRI, Airedale Hospital, the clinical commissioning groups, Bradford District Care Trust and Bradford Council to discuss challenges being faced.

“It has to be a whole effort if we are to make progress on this and meet the serious challenges we are facing. We have to work together,” said Dr Gill.

Plans are being drawn up by the clinical commission groups to extend GP opening hours to help lift some of the burden away from A&E and get more patients seen.

The new service will be phased in so that patients in Bradford will eventually all have access to evening and weekend appointments, as well as day time ones.

A spokesman for the Bradford City and Bradford Districts CCGs said: “Bradford’s A&E department is under real pressure and we need to make sure that only the people who need emergency medical help attend there.

“GP practices are contracted to provide urgent care – so people should always call their surgery first to get advice before going to A&E.

“And plans are also being drawn up which will mean patients can see a GP between 8am and 9.30pm on weekdays, for both pre-bookable and on the day appointments.

The spokesman added: “We can all help each other by ensuring that NHS services are available for those people most in need.

“Most conditions are self-limiting; if you need advice there is NHS Choices online, your local pharmacy, GP or NHS 111 – and it’s always good to have a well-stocked medicine cabinet at home for self-care.”