“I cracked a rib walking to work and reached minor injuries unit before it was forced to close"
A Sheffield woman has been left with a cracked rib after slipping on untreated ice on her way to work, as a hospital was forced to close its minor injuries unit due to a surge in weather-related injuries.
The woman, who lives in Southey, said she was walking to a bus stop at around 6am when she slipped on sheet ice covering pavements and roads in her area.
“There was ice everywhere and the road hadn’t been gritted at all,” she said.
“None of the grit bins had been filled, so there was nothing we could do.”
Despite being injured in the fall, the woman continued to work before the pain became too severe several hours later, prompting her to attend the Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
When she arrived, around seven people were already queuing outside before the unit had even opened.
She said she was seen relatively quickly due to arriving early, but even as she left, queues were growing.
As she was leaving, the injured woman said the hospital was already packed, with many patients presenting injuries linked to icy conditions.
She added that a security guard was attempting to manage the queues.
“It just wasn’t equipped to deal with how many people had been injured,” she said.
Shortly afterwards, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that the Minor Injuries Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital had been temporarily closed to new patients for the remainder of the day due to exceptional demand.
The Trust said that by early afternoon more than 400 patients had attended the Royal Hallamshire Hospital MIU and the Northern General Hospital A&E, many with injuries caused by falls on ice.
On a typical day, around 370 patients attend the two services across a full 24-hour period.
A spokesperson said additional staff had been brought in and patients requiring urgent care were being redirected to the Northern General Hospital A&E, warning that longer waiting times were unavoidable for less urgent cases.
The injured mum said icy conditions remained dangerous well into the afternoon.
When she went to collect her children from school in Stannington at around 3.15pm, pavements were still extremely slippery.
“I was scared to walk in case I fell again and broke my rib. It’s made me really worried about tomorrow when the snow hits,” she said.
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust urged the public to only attend A&E in emergencies, consider alternative urgent care services, and to be patient with staff working under pressure.
The Trust said it anticipates the Minor Injuries Unit will reopen on Thursday, January 8 between 8am and 8pm, subject to conditions.