Elective surgery has been postponed, hospital wards closed, and patients moved to other hospitals for treatment, as freezing weather and virus outbreaks hit the NHS hard across the country.

Planned operations have been postponed at hospitals in the North East of England and, along with other strategic health authorities, NHS North East has introduced escalation plans to deal with the winter pressures.

In Wales, wards have shut in at least eight hospitals due to the winter vomiting bug, and in England hospitals from the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro to the Sheffield Northern General have had to close wards.

Wards were also reported shut in many hospitals over the Christmas and New Year period.

London Ambulance Service Trust said it had experienced “New Year’s Eve levels” of calls, due to icy roads and pavements, over longer than the usual period.

Accident and emergency admission figures for the Christmas and New Year periods are not yet available, but a number of SHAs said they expected them to be higher than in previous years.

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