IPSWICH Hospital is on “black alert” today with fewer than seven beds available to new patients after an influx of people presenting flu-like symptoms.
IPSWICH Hospital is on “black alert” today with fewer than seven beds available to new patients after an influx of people presenting flu-like symptoms.
Extra staff are being brought in and community hospitals are being contacted about free bed space for those with less severe symptoms.
Hospital bosses said they are coping well with the situation and are still taking new admissions.
Black alert was declared yesterday after the hospital came under extreme pressure from a bout of seasonal illness
It comes the week after the hospital was forced to close down one six-bed medical bay because of an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug on the site.
Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said the current pressures were thankfully unrelated to the highly contagious virus.
She said: “We are extremely busy but we are managing through. We have less than seven beds free in the hospital but that position changes hourly.
“We do have a lot of poorly people in our wards and we are seeing people who need to be seen in hospital.
“This is our traditional busy period but we have been busier than we normally have. We have had enough beds though because of our escalation plans.”
She said messages to the public warning of the dangers of coming to the hospital with the winter vomiting bug had got through successfully, leading to no new cases.
She added the “black alert” status should not be seen as a crisis and was merely a situation report.
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