But a quarter of patients said that they had to wait four days for a routine appointment.

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Patients requiring routine appointments or test results are asked to wait a few days or call back at less busy times.

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"Not everyone can keep up with oral hydration so it is pretty routine to go to hospital and have a drip and wait for the thing to pass and keep yourself hydrated, " said Dr. Christopher Hawkey of the University of Nottingham's faculty of medicine and health sciences.

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