An urgent plea has been issued to the people of Macclesfield, as accident and emergency admissions remain high.

As GP's have hour-long phone call queues, making booking minor health appointments a nightmare, Macclesfield Hospital is also struggling with capacity.

East Cheshire NHS Trust, which represents Macclesfield District Hospital, and two other hospitals, have had consistently high figures for the past six months.

In a tweet, posted to social media, the Trust gave an urgent plea which read as follows:

"Our A&E department is extremely busy at the moment. Please only attend if you have a major life-threatening illness or serious injury."

"If you need medical help but it's not an emergency contact #NHS111 first."

They also tweeted warning emojis, to hint at the severity of the pressures high A&E numbers are putting on our NHS.

According to data from NHS England, recent A&E attendances for Type 1 Major A&E Departments across East Cheshire NHS Trust are as follows:

April 2021 - 4,009

May 2021 - 4,286

June 2021 - 4,480

July 2021 - 4,655

August 2021 - 4,281

September 2021 - 4,434

While figures have gone down by 200 from July's peak, when another plea was made to the public, cases are still high enough for another reminder to be issued.

While precise figures for Macclesfield is unavailable, Macclesfield Nub News have submitted a Freedom of Information request to find out the exact figures for our town's hospital.

As well as Macc's hospital on Victoria Road, East Cheshire NHS Trust includes Congleton War Memorial Hospital, along with Knutsford and District Community Hospital.

[I]Macclesfield: Have you signed up for our Friday weekly newsletter containing each week's top 10 Macclesfield news stories, and one FREE exclusive article?

850 of you have signed up already. Simply enter your email address into the shaded box below.

Free from pop-up ads, or unwanted surveys, Macclesfield Nub News is a quality online newspaper which produces 25-30 stories a week for our town.

As well as Twitter, you can also find us on Facebook.