THE impact of the winter crisis that has gripped the NHS has spread to Swindon with GWH issuing three red alerts within a week.

Hospitals work on a series of levels, with green (one) being routine and black (four) being the most serious.

The NHS monitors the movement between the levels at all hospitals around the country from the beginning of December and through the winter months. Until this month, GWH had not presented any cause for concern.

But between January 2 and January 8, the hospital was so stretched that they declared a red alert, just one level below the most serious, on three occasions in the same week.

Such an admission by the hospital means: “The local health and social care system is experiencing major pressures compromising patient flow and continues to increase - further urgent actions are now required across the system.”

The pressures on the NHS across the country have been widely documented in recent weeks with the Red Cross even going so far as to describe them as a humanitarian crisis.

The strain has been attributed to a perfect storm of winter weather, more people visiting A&E and a community care system so over-stretched that patients can’t be discharged quickly enough.

On the days that GWH declared a red alert, the hospital saw an average of 309 visitors to the Emergency Department with almost 100 of those needing to be admitted for treatment.

The hospital never had more than two critical care beds available throughout the period.

A spokesman for GWH said: “With patients attending and leaving hospital around the clock, the Operational Pressure Escalation Level, which is used to monitor how busy we are, will often change multiple times a day – meaning a level three status may only be in place for a few hours before being downgraded.

“At these particularly busy times, and in addition to what we’re doing inside the hospital, we will work closely with our health and social care partners, such as Swindon Borough Council and patient transport providers Arriva, to look at what system-wide actions can be taken to help alleviate the pressure being felt by all health services across Swindon.

“The start of any new year is always an extremely busy time and while 2017 has proved to be no exception, the continued professionalism and dedication shown by our staff has ensured that the vast majority of patients visiting the Emergency Department at GWH still get the care and treatment they need within the four-hour national target.”