BARROW'S hospital is still facing 'significant' pressures in its emergency care.

The chief executive of the trust that runs Furness General Hospital said emergency departments were continuing to come under strain.

Morecambe Bay NHS trust boss Aaron Cummins told the organisation's board of directors pressures were affecting patients and staff.

He said accident and emergency departments at Barrow, as well as Royal Lancaster Infirmary, were facing a 'challening' time.

In a report to the trust's most recent board meeting, Mr Cummins said: "I reported last month on the operational pressures we are facing; unfortunately, this is still the case, and we continue to experience significant pressures in Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) that are impacting on patient experience and the experience of colleagues at work.

"This winter has been, and continues to be, extremely challenging for our services and we have seen significant demand and sustained pressure on UEC at both Furness General Hospital (FGH) and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) hospital sites."

He said among the areas of concern were fewer beds being available for admission and increased numbers of patients waiting in emergency departments.

Mr Cummins also sounded the alarm over the length of time patients are waiting for emergency department admission, the number of patients who are medically fit to leave but unable to do so and longer ambulance waits and handovers - which was putting 'stress and pressure' on staff.

Describing how they had planned to cope with increase pressures over winter, the hospital chief said:  "Our winter plan set out a series of actions designed to mitigate specific seasonal winter risks. One action was to expand surge capacity on both the RLI and FGH sites for an eight-week period from 3 January until 28 February 2024. This included opening Ward 6 at RLI as an inpatient ward with 16 addition."

The hospital chief previously described how adverse weather and industrial action led to services coming significant pressure in January and February.

He said the industrial action by junior doctors was compounded by extreme weather in the area and led the trust to put in place extra measures amid an 'increased risk of harm'.