The critical incident was declared on Friday (13 February) due to high demand, particularly in A&E, which resulted in lengthy waits for patients.

Andrew Hall, chief operating officer, said: ‘Colleagues across our hospitals have worked incredibly hard over the last three days to do all they can to care for our patients and make conditions as safe as possible.

‘Thanks to their efforts and the support of the public, flow through our hospitals, in particular within our respiratory services, has improved and returned to levels expected this time of year.

‘I would like to apologise to any patient who has experienced long waits in our hospitals during this period and hope that they can see how hard staff have been working to make a difference. And I would like to thank those staff who have worked incredibly hard to support flow through the hospitals and offered to do additional shifts during this period.

‘Our hospitals do still remain incredibly busy, and so we are still looking to the public to support us.'