The trust said beds across its six hospitals were full with extremely high emergency department attendance, adding it had very limited capacity to admit further patients who need urgent hospital care.

The public are being asked to only attend the hospital's emergency department for a life-threatening illness or injury and to collect relatives or friends if ready for discharge at the earliest opportunity.

A spokesperson said: ‘As part of the critical incident response, we are working closely with partners across the health and care system to safely discharge patients who no longer require acute hospital care and to reduce avoidable admissions.

‘Our teams continue to work incredibly hard in exceptionally busy conditions to ensure patients receive safe, high quality and compassionate care. The pressure on our urgent and emergency services remains extremely high, and we are focused on supporting patients who need us most.'