大象传媒

Deputy chief executive of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust explains why Scarborough Hospital had to announce a 'major incident' on the first Monday in January because of the volume of patients requiring treatment

Four trusts in different parts of England declared what's called a major incident, which means hospitals can request more support in extremely busy circumstances.

Mike Proctor said: "All ward areas were full of patients...in addition 18 patients were on beds in our emergency department because there were no other beds to go to. But once you turn your emergency department into a ward, it's not long before you can't function as an emergency department".