THE Borders General Hospital remains at capacity and beds are fully occupied say NHS Borders.

The service is still under extreme pressure and planned routine operations may be cancelled.  

In addition the Emergency Department is exceptionally busy and the public are being advised to call NHS24 prior to attending unless their condition is immediately life threatening in which case they should call 999.

Hay Lodge Hospital in Peebles remains closed as a result of a Covid-19 outbreak.

Director of Acute Services, Gareth Clinkscale said: “We continue to experience extreme pressures across the health system and the Borders General Hospital remains at capacity. Our beds are fully occupied and our Emergency Department is exceptionally busy, with a number of people requiring admission.

“In addition, Hay Lodge Hospital in Peebles remains closed as a result of a Covid-19 outbreak and we continue to experience high rates of Covid-19 related staff absence.

“To alleviate these pressures, our surge capacity plans are in place. Everything possible is being done for planned routine operations to go ahead as scheduled however, it may be necessary to cancel some operations as a result of these pressures.

“In the event of cancellations, affected patients will being contacted directly. If you have an operation scheduled for this week please attend as normal unless our team have contacted you to advise that is has been cancelled.

“Our incredible staff continue to work tirelessly to treat the patients in their care across all our services and we are immensely grateful to them. Please continue to treat them with the respect they deserve.

“There are things that you can do to help; before you attend the Emergency Department please call NHS 24 on 111 first and they will signpost you to the right place to get the advice or care that you need.

“You may need to wait a while for your call to be answered or for a member of the team to call you back, but this can be done in the comfort of your own home. If you do need to be seen you may be given an appointment time to minimise the time you need to spend in the department. This also reduces pressure on our team.

“If you think that your condition is immediately life threatening you should call 999.

“If your family member is fit to be discharged from hospital, please help us to get them home quickly when they are well enough by being ready and available to collect them or support their discharge to their next place of care.

“Please understand that we cannot always offer the preferred next place of care in the location that you would choose, and we may ask you to compromise. Working with us to accept this means that we can get the flow through our hospitals moving and offer care to the maximum amount of people who need it.”