A health board in Wales has declared a major incident and has asked patients to only attend one of its hospitals in life-threatening cases. Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has said its services are under "under sustained and unprecedented pressure".
The health board has declared a "business continuity incident" - known as a black alert - which is the highest alert level available.
A spokesperson said the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran is seeing "a record number of attendances" and that non-life-threatening patients were waiting more than 14 hours to see a doctor. Saying it had "very few beds available" across its hospitals, a health board statement asked patients only to attend the Grange if their condition was life-threatening or if they had a serious injury.
Read more: The vastly different rules in each of Wales' health boards if you need maternity care
The health board's statement on Tuesday evening read: "The health board is under sustained and unprecedented pressure. Despite actions to try to stabilise our services today we have had to declare a state of ‘business continuity’.
"Our emergency department at the Grange University Hospital is extremely busy, and we have seen a record number of attendances, and waits to see a doctor, in some cases, are greater than 14 hours where the patient’s condition isn’t life threatening. We have very few beds available across our hospitals to accommodate patients requiring admission.
"We need to ask for your support and to only attend the Grange University Hospital if it is life threatening or you have a serious injury." It added that these cases would include "severe breathing difficulties, severe pain or bleeding, chest pain or a suspected stroke, or serious trauma injuries, such as from a car crash.
"If you have a less serious injury then please visit one of our Minor Injury Units in Newport, Abergavenny or Ystrad Mynach," it added. "If you need medical help, please think carefully about the services you choose."
In October a damning report into the £350m Grange Hospital, which opened back in October 2020, highlighted serious issues at the hospital including chronic staffing problems and excessive workloads which it said were causing "very serious patient safety concerns." You can read more about that here. The hospital's struggles have been highlighted by one of its own doctors who said it was struggling to get patients “through the system safely.”
