A huge upsurge in emergency cases means more delays for patients awaiting operations at a Devon hospital.

Derriford Hospital in Plymouth will only admit urgent and long wait patients tomorrow in a bid to cope with the pressures.

The latest problems come as the hospital tries to recover from a devastating report finding bosses guilty of waiting list "fiddles".

Derriford has been placed on a government list of "failing" hospitals as it struggles to operate on dozens of patients wrongly left off waiting lists.

There have been reports of other hospitals experiencing similar surges in demand and difficulties in finding beds, prompting fears that the NHS's traditional winter pressures may be starting already.

A spokeswoman for Derriford Hospital said it had seen a 20% increase in emergency admissions to the surgical assessment unit today.

The medical assessment unit was also expecting to admit a whole ward full of people today alone, she said.

The hospital was running at 99% capacity this morning, meaning 10 patients due to have day case surgery had their operations postponed.

Staffing shortages

Staffing shortages were adding to the increase in demand at the hospital, the spokeswoman said.

She added: "This can't be put down to flu as the increase has been in surgical rather than medical admissions - we don't really know what has caused it."

John Yarnold, acting director of operations at the hospital, said: "On behalf of the trust, I would like to apologise to all those patients whose arrangements for surgery are being disrupted and promise that we will make every effort to reschedule their treatment as soon as possible.

"We will keep the situation under review for the rest of the week."

Having had its preparations for last year's winter pressures heavily criticised, the government has pumped in millions this time around to try to ensure the NHS runs more smoothly.

However, the full effects of influenza on the health service are not normally felt until a little later in the year, around the beginning of December, and then last until the end of January.

Money has been made available to pay for extra critical care beds, and the NHS is trying to entice former nurses, and those recently retired, back into the wards.