ACCIDENT and Emergency departments were put under heavy pressure at the weekend, leading to pleas for people to stay away unless it is a genuine emergency.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust repeatedly warned over the weekend that the county’s emergency departments, at the John Radcliffe and Horton General Hospitals, were ‘seeing high demand’.

The trust tweeted on Saturday, Sunday and Monday that it was very busy and issued guidance about where to seek alternative advice.

It said: “There are plenty of alternatives to the emergency department.

“If it isn’t a serious or life-threatening emergency, your pharmacist, GP or local minor injuries unit can provide more suitable care.”

Spokesman for the hospital Kaelum Neville said the emergency departments experienced ‘higher than usual demand’ with approximately 800 patients seen over the weekend.

He added: “The nature of the service means that is not uncommon to see a fluctuation in patients, particularly in the winter months.

“As such, our emergency departments remain quite busy and we continue to encourage patients to only attend in the event of a genuine emergency.”

In the latest Care Quality Commission inspection emergency services at the John Radcliffe were found to ‘require improvement’, performing significantly worse than the England average for the four hour A&E waiting time target.

In early 2018, the hospital is hoping to open a portable building outside the department to assess people as they arrive.