HOSPITALS approaching breaking point in the current A&E crisis are off-loading patients to community hospitals to alleviate the stress.

Ellen Badger Hospital has reopened bays, latterly used for storage, to take six patients from Warwick Hospital as it tries to deal with an unprecedented demand in emergency admissions.

On Monday, the Gloucester Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital were the first to announce they had declared a "major incident" situation, effectively saying they were running out of beds and were calling for extra resources.

Several other hospitals throughout the country followed suit shortly afterwards.

Although the Warwick Hospital has not yet declared a 'major incident' situation, there has been unprecedented demand in accident and emergency departments and the hospital has taken pre-emptive measures to alleviate the pressure.

Glen Burley, chief executive of South Warwickshire Foundation Health Trust said: “Our pressure is at its highest level for 10 years. As a result we are increasing our bed capacity where we can, on a temporary basis, to reduce the volume of patients waiting in A&E. In the case of Ellen Badger Hospital we are increasing their bed capacity to the level we had before by reopening a previously clinical area (hospital bays).

“Whilst we have considered declaring a major incident we have decided at this stage that it would not bring any additional help to ease the pressure on the hospital as all surrounding acute hospitals are in a similar position to us. We are also liaising directly with our partners including social care to work together to respond to the increase in demand, however the situation remains under review.”

The Trust added it was working directly with the ward manager at Ellen Badger to ensure services are clinically safe, this includes looking at additional staff.

The crisis is being placed at the feet of A&E users where more than a quarter are going for treatment regarded as non-emergency.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said 30 per cent of people using emergency departments were non emergency cases and people were being urged to consider options other than A&E such as calling the NHS 111 helpline.

People are being urged to look at alternative places for treatment, such as pharmacies, GP surgeries, walk-in centres or by ringing the NHS 111 helpline for advice.

Ironically, this week West Midland Ambulance Service announced it had received its one millionth call to NHS 111 since it went live 14 months ago.

Councillor Jeff Kenner, Labour parliamentary candidate for Stratford said he was concerned of the additional pressure that was being placed at the Ellen Badger Hospital and said it was governmental cuts that had created the chaos.

"I am concerned to learn from the Trust that storage rooms at the Ellen Badger Hospital are going to be opened up for beds for patients because of the near crisis situation at Warwick Hospital. I understand that these rooms, which were previously wards, may no longer be suitable for patients, at least not until further work is done to adapt them.

"There is a superb team at the Ellen Badger who will do everything they can to ensure that all the patients receive the care they need.

"However, the fault lies with the Government which has cut social care, cut nurse training and thrown the NHS into chaos through its costly top down reorganisation. The effects of this are now hitting us here in Shipston.

"I am seeking assurances from the Trust that these measures are temporary and plans are in place when patients need to be discharged. If not, then it is essential that staffing resources are provided and these wards are brought up to standard."