ROYAL Surrey County Hospital was one of more than 20 NHS trusts that declared a ‘Black Alert’ at the start of January, meaning it could not guarantee patient safety and provide a full range of normal services.

A spokesman said: “The hospital was incredibly busy at the beginning of the week commencing Monday, January 9. and experienced a shortage of available beds. As such it declared an OPEL 4 escalation status in-line and its police and business continuity plans were initiated.

“The negative bed position continued throughout Monday and contingency plans, including opening additional beds, were put in place. By the morning of Tuesday January 10, the position had started to improve and the status was de-escalated to OPEL 3.

“The trust returned to a positive bed position on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 10.”