Emergency services at The Royal Oldham Hospital are under ‘immense pressure’ this winter amid ‘unprecedented demand’, health bosses have warned.

Half of patients attending major A&E at the Northern Care Alliance Trust (NCA), which runs The Royal Oldham Hospital, waited longer than four hours to be dealt with last month, figures from NHS England show.

NHS guidance states that 95 per cent of patients attending A&E should be admitted to hospital, transferred elsewhere, or discharged within four hours.

But the NCA fell well behind that target in November, when just 49 per cent of the 25,234 attendances at type 1 A&E departments, which provide major emergency services, were dealt with within four hours.

A&Es across England are at breaking point, with attendance reaching pre-pandemic levels last month and more than 30 per cent of patients waiting more than four hours to be dealt with - a new record for the third month in succession.

Speaking at a recent full council meeting, Oldham Liberal Democrat Cllr Dave Murphy likened Royal Oldham A&E to a scene from a disaster film.

He said: “Ambulances queued outside, beds filling the corridors of A&E, the staff running around and parking carnage – likened to a scene from a disaster film, this is Oldham Royal Hospital A&E on a daily basis.

“I find it mind-blowing that there are beds and privacy curtains in corridors and staff waiting to walk past while nurses and patients treat patients in privacy, having become the norm”.

In a statement addressing the situation at Royal Oldham A&E, Leah Robins, chief operating officer at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “Like other NHS organisations around the country, our emergency services are under immense pressure, but the safety and care of our patients remains our utmost priority.

“Our colleagues at The Royal Oldham Hospital, and at our A&E departments across the Northern Care Alliance, are working incredibly hard to ensure all patients are triaged enabling us to provide care to those who need immediate attention first.

“We are committed to working together with our partner organisations across Oldham and Greater Manchester to make sure that all our patients get the appropriate help they need in the face of continued and unprecedented demand.

“We continue to advise patients who need healthcare advice to use NHS 111 online in the first instance or see a pharmacist. If you have a life-threatening emergency, please call 999".

Health and Social Care secretary Steve Barclay has said the Government is providing £8 billion in funding "to boost performance and recover services to pre-pandemic levels".

Mr Barclay added: "The coming months will be challenging but I am determined to tackle waiting times and improve access for patients.

"We’re allocating an extra £500 million to speed up hospital discharge, getting ambulances back on the road more quickly, increasing the number of NHS call handlers, and creating the equivalent of at least 7,000 more beds."