It has been the most difficult Christmas on record for out-of-hours GP services in NI, the BMA has said.
On Christmas Eve, Western Urgent Care received 640 calls - up from 158 calls last year, Dr Black said."It has been for the last two months," he said. "Since September we've really struggled to keep things going."Dr Black said a number of different factors were to blame for the pressures being felt across the health service, including strep A, Covid-19, flu and respiratory viruses and vomiting bugs.
"We've seen a confluence of an extraordinary number of infections peaking at this time, all different things - we haven't seen anything like it before.He said the situation has meant healthcare staff have been forced to prioritise patients."We don't have enough resources to see everybody with a sore throat or a cough - we're trying to make sure the most vulnerable and the sickest are being seen.
Dr Black said Wednesday is set to be "the busiest day we've ever seen" and warned people to only visit emergency departments in an emergency."We all pay for this through our taxation and we all understand you can't be pushing to the front of the queue because you've got a sore toe - we have to look after the vulnerable people in our society, particularly today."
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