Icy blast fills up A&E waiting rooms
Staff at Ninewells Hospital A&E department have been dealing with a spate of falls due to icy pavements.
- By Alan Wilson and Jonathan Watson
- Published in the Courier : 16.12.11
- Published online : 16.12.11 @ 04.08pm
Early-morning rain followed by a sudden freeze meant some pavements were a sheet of ice throughout Thursday, leading to falls and fractures galore for some unlucky pedestrians.
A hospital source said the A&E department waiting room was ''choc a bloc'' with people requiring treatment for a series of injuries, many with fractured limbs and waiting times of around three to four hours to be seen by a doctor during the busiest spells.
A&E staff had to deal with more than 140 cases between 8am and 8pm.
A spokesman for NHS Tayside confirmed staff had treated 141 patients during the 12-hour period compared to 98 last week and much of it was due to icy pavements.
''Our accident and emergency department has seen higher than normal amounts of patients today, mostly attributable to falls caused by the icy conditions.
''We have seen around a third more people, 141 compared to 98, than in the same time period last Thursday. The orthopaedic department has also reported higher than normal admissions of patients suffering from fractures.''
Ambulance crews were also ''much busier'' than usual, responding to callouts mostly due to the icy conditions, and low-priority cases were said to have had to wait several hours to be picked up.
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed they had been busier than usual, with callouts to pick up casualties after falls in the city.
''It's difficult to quantify exactly how many as they don't all come in as being due to ice, but certainly we were much busier than usual,'' he said.
04.58pm - 16.12.2011 polar bear - dundee, uk Report This
does not surprise me.many more victims to come.i live up dalclaverhouse&our roads&pavements are never cleared,gritted or salted.all last winter&so far this year.i know it must be difficult but its potentially fatal a fall.
08.43pm - 16.12.2011 Pam Bolger - Dundee, Scotland Report This
I haved phoned the council 4 times to complain about ungritted pavements and have been told the ones I am complaining about aren't priority even though a nursery school, primary school and high school are all in the immediate vicinity! Children and carers are having to walk on the roads. Ridiculous!
08.14am - 17.12.2011 Brae Dweller - Dundee, scotland Report This
The council should put out more grit bins so the people can grit outside their houses as nobody seems to know what the priority areas are. If you need out,that's a prority..
10.57am - 17.12.2011 Richard Cheese - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Oh dear - here we go again from the folks who live in the sticks not grasping the concept of priority gritting.
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