The Royal United Hospital in Bath has declared an internal ‘black alert’ due to an overwhelming increase in demand on the services they provide.
The RUH joins two other hospitals in the region operating under the ‘black alert’ status; the Yeovil District Hospital and Swindon’s Great Western Hospital.
The black alert is used as part of an internal system used to rank how busy a local healthcare system is. There are four levels, green, amber, red and black.
A black alert is issued when there are too many people coming into the hospital’s accident and emergency department and it cannot cope with the increased numbers. This is often due to not enough people being discharged.
A spokesman for the Royal United Hospital told that BBC that it was on black alert “in line with current demand, and staff are doing an excellent job”.
The news comes whilst the RUH are still dealing with an outbreak of norovirus on the site, with two wards remaining closed to new patients.
The hospital has appealed to members of the public and their families to help prevent further spread of the norovirus infection by avoiding visiting the hospital.
