Health board warns residents not to go to A&E at the Grange unless it’s life-threatening

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has warned residents not to go to the emergency department at the Grange Hospital unless it’s life-threatening or a serious injury.

The health board said the plea was due to the hospital being “extremely busy” following two days of IT problems.

The health board advised people to check their symptoms on the NHS 111 website or to call NHS 111 for advice.

The Grange opened in Cwmbran in late 2020, costing £350m.

An ABUHB spokesperson said: “We have experienced sustained pressure over the past two days as a result of national IT outages outside of our control, which disrupted the operation of our clinical and operational systems.

“Although the situation seems to have improved this morning [April 26], we are continuing to work with Digital Health and Care Wales and our internet provider to ensure this internet connectivity issue is fully resolved.”

The spokesperson continued: “Our hospitals remain very busy due to backlogs caused by the disruption to IT systems and we are advising local people to think carefully about the NHS services they choose – and in particular to avoid visiting the emergency department at the Grange University Hospital unless absolutely necessary.”

They insisted patient safety has “not been compromised” by the issues and thanked staff for going “above and beyond to keep services running as smoothly as possible”.