South West hospitals on Black Alert

Dr Ed Ford, Somerset CCG's GP Lead for Urgent Care Services urges the public to use their local health services responsibly by not using busy hospital A&E departments or calling 999 for an emergency ambulance with only minor illness.

The advice comes after some health and social care systems in the region declared 'Black Alert'status.

Operations have been postponed and A&E departments are struggling to meet targets as hospitals across the region remain on 'Black Alert'.

The exact number of operations cancelled haven't been disclosed.

The Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Southmead and Weston General Hospital all remain in system-wide black escalation status.

Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital and Bath's Royal United Hospital are on 'red alert' - one level below black.

A&E STATISTICS

5 out of 8 of our hospitals didn't hit their A&E target of seeing 95% of patients within 4 hours over the weekend.

Some were even falling as low as 60%.

The severe pressure on emergency services at Yeovil District Hospital has eased slightly, with the hospital no longer at "black alert".

The alert status has now been downgraded to "red alert", the second highest possible level of severity. The hospital is still very busy and says it is facing significant operational challenges.

Black alert occurs when the hospital can no longer deal with the number of patients coming into A&E because too few are being discharged.

HOSPITALS STILL ON BLACK ALERT

• Southmead Hospital
• the BRI
• Bristol Royal Hospital for Children
• Weston General Hospital

WHAT DOES RED ALERT MEAN?

A hospital on red alert means that wards are still very busy with limited bed space. All non-urgent work and clinics are usually cancelled so that resourced can be concentrated on the emergency services.

It also means urgent actions are required across the local health system by all partners to prevent the hospital going into black alert.

Bristol CCG Clinical Lead for Urgent and local GP Dr Peter Goyder has condemned those using A&E unnecessarily and warns it may lead to continued black alert status.

So hospitals have announced that they're on 'black alert' - but what does this actually mean?

This is the highest level of alert, which usually means bed capacity has been reached and that patients arriving at A&E will have to be taken to another hospital. Sometimes routine operations will be cancelled to free up bed space.

NHS England classifies a black alert as a "serious incident". It means the system is under severe pressure and is unable to deliver certain actions and comprehensive emergency care.

It also means there is potential for emergency care and safety to be compromised. Decisive action must be taken to restore the hospital's capacity and ensure patient safety.

Read more:

• More South West hospitals on Black Alert

Yeovil Hospital has announced that it is on black alert - with some operations being cancelled and the A&E department facing intense pressure.

The hospital says people flooding in after the festive season is responsible for the sudden surge in demand.

It's after the hospital tweeted that there was an unusual level of people needed help at their A&E department earlier today (5 January).

Read more:

• What does Black Alert mean?