Eastbourne District General Hospital (DGH) has declared a “business continuity incident” after experiencing “extreme and sustained operational pressures.”

A power outage at the hospital last week led to the temporary closure of some services, like the Midwifery Unit.

Now, the hospital says patients should “only attend our emergency departments for serious or life-threatening emergencies.”

The hospital has suffered power issues recently (Image: Julian Guffogg)

A spokesperson for the hospital said: “In light of extreme and sustained operational pressures both in our emergency departments and across the wards, we have declared a business continuity incident at Eastbourne DGH to ensure the safety and continuity of our services.

“We will be reviewing the situation throughout the day.

“The business continuity framework exists to ensure that we can monitor and maintain resilience in times of extreme pressure, ensuring that critical services remain operational.

“We call an incident when the pressure on our services threatens our ability to deliver them safely and we must take additional measures.”

The statement continued: “The combination of high numbers of acutely unwell patients needing to be admitted and many patients with winter illnesses and respiratory viruses is putting our hospitals under intense pressure.”

Only those with serious injuries should attend emergency services at the hospital (Image: Paul Gillett)

The statement continued: “Our focus, as always, remains on the delivery of high-quality care to our patients.

“We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety and continuity of our services, and we have robust business continuity plans in place to help us navigate situations like this effectively.

“Please support us by only attending our emergency departments for serious or life-threatening emergencies.

“People should consider other health services, such as your GP, pharmacies, or NHS 111.”

The hospital is managed by the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.

Josh Babarinde MP on a recent visit to the hospital (Image: Josh Babarinde)

Josh Babarinde, MP for Eastbourne, called for “urgent investment” into the Eastbourne DGH on January 12.

Mr Babarinde said: “Parts of our hospital are now over fifty years old.

“As a result, ageing infrastructure, especially power and electrical systems, is posing growing challenges to the delivery of safe and effective care.

“This was starkly clear during my recent visit to the hospital, where I saw for myself the visible decline.”