HEREFORD hospital bosses have issued an urgent ‘stay away’ appeal to anyone not seriously ill as A&E struggles to cope with a surge in demand.

An influx of patients is also having a knock on affect on the ambulance service who are trying to juggle 999 calls when ambulances are tied up waiting outside the hospital.

It is understood up to nine ambulances were queued up on Monday evening, and queuing ambulances have become a routine sight.

Both the West Midlands Ambulance Service and the hospital say they have become "extremely busy" over the last few days, despite already putting their winter contingencies into place.

The hospital is "very full".

Now the NHS trust has appealed to people to stay away unless they are "seriously ill".

And it says they are so busy that if you do turn up at A&E and are not very sick then you can expect to wait far longer than the targeted four hours.

“When the cold weather comes we get more people falling, elderly people hurt in slips and trips, plus those people who have underlying long-term health issues.

“We have closed the minor injury units at Ross and Leominster to bring more staff into Hereford, and we are using extra ‘escalation’ beds.

“The last few days have been very busy and we would appeal to people to ring 111 or visit their pharmacy for advice rather than visit A&E. Stay away if you can. A&E is for the very sick.”

The trust says the picture in the A&E waiting room can be seriously misleading, as it may seem quiet to non-urgent patients who do not see the stream of emergency cases being brought in by ambulance.

The hospital routinely gears up for a surge in "winter pressure" but in recent months it has recorded unprecedented highest ever levels of demands and, like almost all hospitals in the country, is falling far short of government waiting time targets.