ALMOST 80 per cent of people attending Barnsley Hospital's accident and emergency department know they are attending for non-emergencies, a new report has revealed.
A study commissioned by Barnsley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) - which commissions the town's health services - revealed only 22 per cent of people believe it's an emergency when they attend.
The shocking figure comes after NHS watchdog Monitor launched an investigation into long waiting times.
The hospital - like every other in the country - must meet a national target of seeing 95 per cent of patients within four hours.
Minor injuries in adults such as back pain, sprains and strains were the main reason people attended the emergency department.
Children mainly attended with vomiting, high temperature and rashes.
The majority of people said they attended to gain reassurance their or their child's condition wasn't anything to worry about.
People also said they didn't know where else to go, and getting an appointment with their GP could be difficult.
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated October 10. **
