YEOVIL NEWS: Black Alert is over - but hospital is still under pressure to cope with demand

PROBLEMS caused by over-crowding and a sudden influx of patients have eased at Yeovil District Hospital.

The hospital has been working under Black Alert pressures due to a high number of patients which has meant some operations and appointments have had to be cancelled.

But the hospital has today (Friday, March 6, 2015) announced that the Black Alert status has been reduced to Red.

“We are pleased to report that we have been able to de-escalate our status to Red, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our staff and the support of our local community,” said a spokesman.

“We now have a small number of free beds and are focussed on sustaining a good level of patient flow through the hospital to maintain this status.

“Our next task is to concentrate our efforts on rescheduling our elective surgery appointments and we would like to thank our patients once again for their patience and understanding.”

But the reduction to Red status does not mean that the hospital is back running as normal.

The spokesman added: “Although there has been a slight reduction in the number of people attending our emergency department, we are still under significant pressure going into the weekend.

“We would therefore urge anyone thinking of attending the A&E department to research other NHS services such as NHS 111, or the NHS Choices website, to make sure that they are treated as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“We would like to thank patients and visitors alike for their understanding during this time and recognise the commitment and hard work of all our staff to ensure the continuity of first-class care for our patients.”

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