PATIENTS were left waiting for hours as Ipswich Hospital ran out of beds and sounded 'red alert'.Red alert is where less than eight hospital beds available within the whole hospital for patients coming through the accident and emergency department.

By Tracey Sparling

PATIENTS were left waiting for hours as Ipswich Hospital ran out of beds and sounded 'red alert'.

Red alert is where less than eight hospital beds available within the whole hospital for patients coming through the accident and emergency department.

One patient, who attended A&E last night with a lump on the leg, said he waited for four hours without being seen by hospital staff.

A hospital spokeswoman today confirmed that the hospital was on red alert yesterday and the day before and came off red alert first thing this morning.

"We are managing through the emergency pressure at the moment," she said. "No one waited more than six hours for a bed to become available."

As the two main political parties argued over the Chancellor's statements over NHS funding in the House of Commons yesterday, the hospital admitted that it was stumped for clear reasons for the crisis situation, admitting there had been a "huge" increase in the numbers of people needing emergency care.

"It is extremely difficult to give definitive answers as to why there are increasing pressures in emergency and urgent care," continued the spokeswoman.

She said that red alert could come into operation at any time as the hospital maintains a 94 to 98 per cent bed occupancy rate, monitored on a 24-hour basis.