VISITS to A&E at Leighton Hospital have plummeted during the coronavirus crisis amid a national record low number of emergency visits to hospitals.

New figures from NHS England show there were 4,343 A&E attendances at Leighton last month, recorded by Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

That was 32 per cent fewer than in March, and a 47 per cent decrease from in April last year, when there were 8,174.

Emergency admissions to Leighton also fell year-on-year, from 3,182 in April 2019 to 2,603 last month.

"This is a ticking timebomb in itself and it will be exacerbated by a myriad of other pressures in the coming weeks," said Dr Nick Scriven, a past president of the Society for Acute Medicine.

"There will be an ongoing need to keep people with coronavirus separate from others to prevent transmission.

"Attempting to manage increased demand will be very challenging."

Leighton's figures reflected the picture across England, where accident and emergency departments were at their quietest for any month on record.

Nationally, there were 917,000 A&E attendances in April 2020, down 57 per cent from 2.1 million in 2019.

NHS England says the fall is 'likely to be a result of the Covid-19 response'.

John Appleby, director of research and chief economist at the Nuffield Trust, said: "People are likely putting off seeking care because of Covid-19 infection fears and worries of burdening overstretched NHS staff.

"This is despite some reassurance from both the Government and the NHS that these services are open.

"We do not yet know what impact this is having on people's health – some people will have self-treated or sought other sources of care."

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Professor Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said although A&E attendances were sharply down, the majority of reductions were for lower-risk conditions.

"The NHS has launched a public information campaign reminding the people of the importance of seeking care for urgent and emergency conditions," he added.

Elsewhere in Cheshire, Macclesfield Hospital saw a 47 per cent drop in A&E attendances from April 2019, while the Countess of Chester saw a 46 per cent fall.