BOSSES at the Royal Derby Hospital are predicting the number of people who turn up at its accident and emergency department this weekend will be the highest they have ever seen.
Earlier this week, the Derby Telegraph reported how staff in A&E treated the third-highest amount of patients they had ever seen in the hospital's history when working last Sunday.
One family said they had queued outside the department because it was so busy.
Bosses at the city's accident and emergency department said demand had been increasing throughout the year but, with forecasters predicting high temperatures, they expect A&E to be inundated with patients once again.
They have again urged people only to go to A&E if they have a genuine medical emergency.
And Iain Lennon, consultant in emergency medicine and lead clinician at Derby's hospitals, said people should not dismiss alternative health services lightly – thinking they would not be available to them.
He said: "I had one patient who, after reading a national newspaper, thought they wouldn't be able to get their GP at the weekend but, after turning up at their A&E, staff there actually made an appointment for them.
"There's this perception that people think there aren't any alternative services there for them and that's why they turn up to A&E, without even trying other options.
"That's why we're asking them to try other options, when it's not necessary to go to A&E, because they are out there."
Medics in A&E are used to seeing around 350 to 360 people each day but, last Sunday, they treated 422 patients in 24 hours.
Dr Lennon said: "We'll have the equivalent of two more doctors available to people over the course of the weekend so that we are prepared.
"We will, of course, cope with extra demand because that is our job but we will be tested."
Patients not in a life-threatening emergency should call their GP or the non-emergency NHS number 111.
The latter service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Less severe injuries can be treated in minor injuries units and NHS walk-in centres – such as the Derby Walk-In Centre, in Osmaston Road, or the Derby Open Access Centre, in St Thomas Road.
