THE major incident declared at Colchester General Hospital will continue into next week.
Bosses at the Turner Road hospital announced the incident following a snap inspection by healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission eight days ago.
Inspectors raised concerns about a lack of available beds and a number of patient safety issues.
The situation is due to be reviewed by health chiefs on Monday.
About 40 non-emergency operations have been postponed since the incident was declared.
No day case surgeries have been cancelled.
The number of people going straight to A&E has about halved since the announcement, to about 125 per day.
However, the walk-in centre has seen a spike in the number of people coming through the doors.
A hospital spokesman said “some” long-stay patients have been discharged, easing some of the pressure.
He added: “The pressure on Colchester General Hospital has eased during the week, partly because many people have heeded the advice to use our A&E appropriately for which we are grateful.
“We have also been able to reduce the number of non-emergency operations we have postponed, but the hospital remains busy.”
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