SOME patients waited longer than 12 hours to be seen in Colchester Hospital's accident and emergency department as the service faced "high demand".

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said hundreds of people attended A&E across two days.

Neill Moloney, deputy chief executive at the trust, said: “On Sunday, September 25 we saw 380 patients attend A&E and the urgent treatment centre at Colchester Hospital, and 407 on Monday, September 26.

“This made for a very challenging time in the department and, regrettably, some people were waiting longer for care and treatment than we would have liked them to.

"The reasons for this are varied and they can change daily, if not hourly."

Mr Moloney said a rise in the number of patients with Covid-19, coupled with 'bed blockers' - patients who are medically fit but cannot be discharged - were two reasons behind the long waits.

He said: “Over the past few days we have started to see a rise in the number of patients with Covid-19, which makes managing beds and flow through the hospital more difficult.

"As with all trusts up and down the country we also have some patients who are medically fit but cannot be discharged for complex reasons and overall, there is a regular, high demand for our accident and emergency service.

“We prioritise the people who are in the greatest need of urgent care and are very sick, but this does mean some then have to wait longer – and in some cases this has been more than 12 hours – if they are attending A&E for more minor injuries and conditions.

“We continue to work closely with our partners across the health and social care sector to make sure only those patients who really need to be in hospital are those who are in a hospital bed at ESNEFT.

"That way we can make sure we treat and admit or discharge people from A&E as quickly and safely as possible.”