IPSWICH Hospital has admitted it has been on black alert all week with no beds available for patients.Jan Rowsell, a spokeswoman for hospital management, said it has been an unusually busy week, which has meant the hospital has been full.
IPSWICH Hospital has admitted it has been on black alert all week with no beds available for patients.
Jan Rowsell, a spokeswoman for hospital management, said it has been an unusually busy week, which has meant the hospital has been full.
As The Evening Star went to press, the hospital was on red alert, which means there are between one and seven beds available at the Heath Road site.
She said: “We are always busy during the school holidays. There is a combination of factors for this, one of which is that people who have a network of support can become more ill if the people who provide that support are away.
“Often they may not be able to cope with that illness independently.”
She denied the reason for the black alert status was anything to do with the recent closure of wards under the trust's plan to change the structure of care.
Figures released in April showed the hospital has been on black alert when it is completely full with no beds available on more than half the days at that point this year.
On 24 days the hospital has remained on black alert the whole day meaning patients were left waiting for an empty bed.
The news came amid a cost cutting regime at the hospital which has seen 37 beds closed since September and another 34 facing closure in the near future.
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