EMERGENCY measures were taken at the weekend to find beds for patients at Hereford County Hospital.

There were so many admissions that staff put into practice a contingency plan to use beds in the day case ward.

Since Saturday, 11 in-patients were using the ward but by Tuesday it was down to three.

"If all goes well we should be back to normal by now,'' said Sharron Beamish, director of services and delivery.

Over the New Year many people had been admitted suffering with chest problems and pneumonia and were 'poorly', she said.

Staff had looked at the patterns of previous years and realised the peak came on January 2.

It was decided that day case beds could be used as a contingency measure for a temporary period for patients who needed to stay in hospital but were less ill.

Mrs Beamish also confirmed that, because of the high number of admissions to the hospital, around eight routine operations had been postponed.

"We know this is frustrating for the people involved but we have to give priority to emergency patients and clinically urgent cases,'' she said. Patients whose surgery is postponed have to be offered a new date within 28 days.