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Crammed hospital unable to cope with demand
Ambulances ended up queuing outside a hospital built under the government's private finance initiative as wards filled to bursting point.
Managers at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, in Norwich, pushed the emergency button – implementing plans designed to enable staff to cope with major incidents such as terrorist attacks and train crashes – in a bid to cope with the demand.
A spokeswoman said the hospital had been forced to send as many patients as possible home and ask doctors and nurses to work overtime. At one stage 10 ambulances were waiting to discharge patients said the spokeswoman. Managers urged people with minor health problems not to attend A&E.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 3 C
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