Plea to collect hospital patients well enough to leave amid rising pressure on Cornwall's NHS
It follows an exceptionally busy weekend for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals' Trust
The trust in charge of Cornwall's main hospitals is asking the families of patients who are well enough to leave to help get them home.
The RCHT has shared an appeal on social media following an "exceptionally busy" weekend.
At one point 75 patients were in A&E at Treliske, with the longest waiting times recorded as being over four hours.
At the time, the trust said: "We're exceptionally busy. Please don’t come to A&E with minor injury and illness. Call 111 first and we’ll direct you to the right place. Our minor injury units are open".
On Monday they tweeted: "Hospitals, health and care services are all under pressure right now.
"If you have a relative or friend in hospital you could offer some help to get home sooner, call the ward and talk to us about how we can support you".
Recent figures revealed more than 200 people were stuck in hospitals in Cornwall, despite being fit enough to come home.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals' NHS Trust remains in a critical incident as it faces continued pressure due to being unable to discharge people from hospital.
Trust chief executive Steve Williamson told a recent meeting of the trust’s board that there was a need to address the number of people awaiting discharge to help ease pressure on the whole health system.
The majority of the people waiting to be discharged are waiting for residential care home beds or domiciliary packages of care in their own homes.
The board also heard about long waiting lists at the trust, with hundreds of patients waiting over a year for treatment.