North Cumbria Integrated Care’s (NCIC) urgent care services are in ‘high demand’ ahead of their busiest time of year.

Almost 11,000 people across North and West Cumbria attended A&E in October and the trust have asked people to use urgent treatment centres (UTCs) rather than A&E if they need medical attention which is not life threatening.

Just 62 per cent of people were seen at A&E within the government’s target of four hours which is below the national average of 70 per cent.

 A spokesperson for NCIC said: “Our urgent care services continue to be in high demand with almost 11,000 people attending our A&E and Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs) in October.

“Of those, over 3,000 people required emergency admission to hospital. Our waiting times in our A&E departments are still longer than we would like and reflect the pressures we are seeing across the country.

“Our UTCs in Penrith and Keswick saw 98.5% of patients within the four hour standard, and we would encourage people to use UTCs if you need urgent medical attention which is not life threatening.

“This keeps our A&E departments free for people who are the most seriously ill or injured. UTCs are a walk-in service. You do not need an appointment.”

Waiting lists in the NHS have grown to seven million across the country and the recent NHS strikes have put further strain on the health service.

Almost 2,000 appointments and operations were cancelled by NCIC because of NHS strike action over the last year, figures show.

NCIC say reducing waiting lists remains a ‘key focus’ for the health service across Cumbria.

A spokesperson for NCIC said: “We are pleased to say that we have reduced our waiting list for diagnostic procedures this month.

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“However, our waiting list for planned operations has increased with recent periods of industrial action impacting on the number of procedures we have been able to carry out.

“Despite this, we have further reduced the number of patients waiting over a year which remains a key focus for us. 

“As we quickly approach the winter period, we are putting plans in place to manage the extra demand we always experience. As ever, the public can also help play their part by getting their flu and Covid-19 vaccinations when eligible, using services such as NHS 111 to get urgent advice on the best NHS service for their needs and by calling 999 only in life-threatening emergencies.”