Hospitals face overcrowding crisis

Campaigners are warning the NHS could be brought to breaking point because of a shortage of space on wards.

Patients had to wait in ambulances lined up outside one hospital overnight and others were put on standby as a result.

Managers at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in Norwich pushed the emergency button - implementing plans designed to enable staff to cope with major incidents such as terrorist attacks and train crashes - to cope with demand.

Other hospitals in East Anglia were also on "black alert" because of the numbers of patients seeking emergency treatment.

A spokeswoman said the hospital had been forced to send as many patients as possible home and ask doctors and nurses to work overtime.

At one stage ten ambulances were waiting to discharge patients at the hospital - which has nearly 1,000 beds.

The spokeswoman said: "The hospital is currently full and our emergency areas are at full capacity.

"As a result of the extreme pressure we are under we have declared a major incident in order that all the agencies can take appropriate action to discharge patients and free up beds."

Managers urged people with "minor health" problems not to attend the accident and emergency department.

The hospital trust website says 27 operating theatres and 27 wards are available.

Managers say they employ nearly 2,000 nurses and more than 1,000 administration and clerical staff.

In the year up to April the trust says staff treated more than 122,000 in and day patients, nearly 420,000 out-patients and more than 75,000 accident and emergency patients.

The hospital opened in 2001 and was regarded as a flagship of the private finance initiative (PFI) scheme.

Under PFI, private companies are used to build public hospitals. Companies are paid back in instalments from public money.

The scheme has been used to drive Labour's programme of public sector building projects in the health, education and transport sectors.

Critics say PFI contracts are poor value for money for taxpayers and commit the public sector to expensive deals for decades.

In 2006 the National Audit Office raised concerns about the financing of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

It said private investors made more than £80 million out of a refinancing deal, but the hospital was handed only £34 million.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.