Patients have been reminded to only visit A&E if they have an emergency or another serious health problem as the lack of beds available at Addenbrooke’s Hospital remains ‘critical’.

The Cambridge hospital lowered its ‘major incident’ status to ‘internal criticial incident’ on Friday afternoon, but the health chief of the NHS trust in charge has repeated the need for patients to seek alternative care where possible.

Dr Keith McNeil, chief executive of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Demand on our services remains extremely high and we continue to contact relatives of patients who are medically fit to go home, with ongoing care needs such as feeding or personal care and asking them, wherever possible, to take their relative home while care packages are put in place, where appropriate. Focus will remain on discharging patients in a timely and safe fashion.

“Given the NHS trust’s continued critical bed state, it is essential that people do not attend A&E unless they have an emergency or other serious health problem.

“I would like to thank all the many people, both in our hospital and in the community for their extraordinary effort and support during this major incident. Our priority is to care safely for our patients and we continue to work very hard with our partners during what is a very challenging period.”

For advice call NHS number 111.