Doctors urge patients to think twice before attending East Lancashire's A&E departments

Emergency staff said the number of patients had been growing rapidly and gave the example of last Wednesday when 28 per cent more patients were seen compared to the same date last year.

Dr Damien Lynch, a consultant physician and associate medical director for the Medical Division at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, warned that people with low priority needs would spend longest waiting for traetment - and may only be given advice on painkillers and told to see their GP.

In one five-minute period on Wednesday night there were 20 patients in the emergency department at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Seven had minor conditions which could have been easily dealt with by their GP, doctors said.

At the same time in the urgent care centres at Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital, there were 23 out of 48 patients who should have seen their GP.

Doctors have warned that patients who use the emergency department and urgent care centres inappropriately could be responsible for delaying treatment of seriously-ill people as the cold weather sets in.

Dr Lynch said: “Four of the people who had attended inappropriately that evening had problems that had been niggling them for more than three weeks. Another came simply because they had run out of the painkillers prescribed by their GP.

“Patients like these have the lowest-priority need, so they spend the longest time waiting to be seen. When they get to a treatment area, they often find we can do nothing more than give them some advice on painkillers and advise them to make an appointment with their family doctor."

“We are currently planning for the big increases in patients that winter always brings, and if so many people continue to turn up at hospital when they don’t really need to, that could mean delays for people who suffer serious illness in the icy winter weather.

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