A fire at Southampton General Hospital has left hospitals that have taken on transferred patients "stretched to capacity".

An electrical blaze broke out in the endoscopy unit on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of more than 500 patients.

With 11 wards now out of action, patients have been moved to other hospitals across Hampshire, including Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.

Basingstoke's chief nursing officer said the influx of patients had "put a lot of pressure" on NHS facilities throughout the region.

No-one was injured in the fire, which broke out early on Sunday morning and was put out after four hours.

Parts of the building's west wing were gutted in the blaze.

Hundreds of patients were moved, some to non-clinical areas of the hospital, while access to the emergency department was restricted.

NHS bosses have already warned that the knock-on effects of the loss of bed space in Southampton will increase demand at other hospitals during what is one of their busiest times of the year.

Julie Dawes, Basingstoke's chief nursing officer, said the response of staff in Southampton had been "miraculous" as they moved patients to safety when the fire broke out.

"Between the whole system, we've been working really hard trying to transfer those patients out of the hospital," she said.

"It's put a lot of pressure both on our emergency departments and our beds."

A record 600 patients attended Basingstoke's emergency department on a single day earlier this week.

But she said it was "business as usual" at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and people should attend appointments as usual.

"What we are asking for is support for the public - only attended our emergency department if it's really a urgent and critical injury or illness," she added.

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust also said it been helping after the fire and thanks its staff for their "exceptional efforts".

"To ensure our communities continued to receive safe and timely care, we rapidly opened previously unused care spaces to accommodate patients who were displaced from Southampton," a spokesperson said.

"This has enabled us to step up capacity while continuing to provide care for our own patients.

"We have also received patients into our emergency department via ambulance diversions, helping to ensure people continued to access emergency care."

ByStuart Rust

South of England

A major incident declared after a fire at a city's main hospital has now been stood down.

The incident was triggered when an electrical blaze broke out in the west wing of Southampton General Hospital on 1 February.

Hospital staff and fire crews evacuated more than 500 patients to safe areas across the site within 40 minutes.

The major incident - which is typically called during events that present a significant threat to the public and require the response of multiple emergency services - has now been stood down and moved to a recovery stage.

University Hospital Southampton (UHS) said the main focus of the recovery will be getting people safely out of hospital as soon as they are medically fit to leave.

The hospital still has 150 fewer beds than usual as a result of the fire and demand remains high.

Reflecting on the response, James Lowell, chief delivery officer at NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: "Through the efforts of staff from across the health and care system, additional support was quickly put in place in response to the fire in Southampton.

"Our acute and community hospitals, urgent treatment centres, GP practices, the ambulance service and local authority social care colleagues have all stepped up to support UHS."

Lowell said an ambulance divert from Southampton's emergency department to other hospitals was in place for a total of 31 hours and 211 patients were moved to other health facilities.

The majority of outpatient appointments are going ahead at the hospital, with patients advised to attend as planned unless told otherwise.

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A few motorway closures may impact Southampton drivers this weekend, according to National Highways.

These will be along the M3 and M27 during the late evening and early hours of the morning.

If you're planning to travel along these roads from Southampton, it would be best to take note of the different diversions that may be in place.

Here are the closures along the M3 and M27 that will be in place during the weekend of Friday, February 13, to Sunday, February 15.

More information on road closures around England can be found on the National Highways website.

Hampshire M3 and M27 closures for Friday, February 13

On the M3 in both directions, there will be a carriageway closure between Junctions 9 and 8.

This will take place from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Monday, so that major improvement works can be undertaken.

Also on the M3 southbound, there will be an exit slip road closure at Junction 4a.

This will take place from 9pm on Friday until 6am on Saturday for maintenance works.

There are no closures scheduled on the M27 for this day.

Hampshire M3 and M27 closures for Saturday, February 14

The carriageway closures in both directions between Junctions 8 and 9 will continue all day.

There are no closures scheduled on the M27 for this day.

Hampshire M3 and M27 closures for Sunday, February 15

The carriageway closures in both directions between Junctions 8 and 9 will continue all day and finish up at 6am on Monday.

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There are no closures scheduled on the M27 for this day.

Further details on road closures around England can be seen on the National Highways website.

Are you heading out this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

A major incident has been declared and 200 patients have been evacuated after a fire broke out at University Hospital Southampton, causing significant damage.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service was called to Southampton General Hospital at 5.30am after flames were seen in the endoscopy unit.

More than 110 firefighters rushed to the scene, where they used breathing apparatus, hose reel jets and an aerial ladder platform (ALP) to battle the blaze.

Roughly 200 patients were evacuated to safety and roads around the hospital were closed. They are currently being cared for in corridors and other parts of the hospital.

In a statement posted on its website, the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust confirmed the fire has now been contained but has caused “significant damage” to part of the hospital. Nobody has been hurt.

The statement added: “We understand news of the fire and subsequent evacuation will cause anxiety for relatives keen to find out how their loved ones are where they are now situated within the hospital.

“We are working hard to utilise all available space and move patients into other wards and departments where possible.

“Our telephone lines are exceptionally busy and we would ask people to bear with us and refrain from calling unless urgent.”

All outpatient appointments have been cancelled and those requiring medical care are being urged to stay away unless conditions are “deemed life- or limb-threatening”.

Patients are being urged to use other services in the community, including the Urgent Treatment Centres at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton or at Lymington New Forest Hospital, visit local pharmacies, or call and take advice from 111.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Larry Mackrell, group manager at Hampshire Fire and Rescue and incident commander for the operation at the hospital, told the Southern Daily Echo: “Around 5.30am this morning we got a call for an incident at Southampton General and we have deployed resources from across Hampshire to deal with this incident.

“At its height, we had around 110 firefighters here. I can confirm that the fire is now out and our crews are undertaking smoke clearance within the building.”

He said crews will remain at the site for the foreseeable future, but they are beginning to wind down their presence.

“At this stage, we have no indication of what might have caused the fire but we will now be looking to carry out some fire investigation,” he added.

“I can confirm that the fire stayed within the room of ignition, but smoke has travelled throughout the floor, so the impact of the fire has been significant.”

ByBriony Leyland, Reporting fromat Southampton General Hospital and Galya Dimitrova, South of England

A fire at Southampton's main hospital has led to more than 200 patients being evacuated from wards and operations cancelled.

A major incident was declared after the blaze broke out in the endoscopy unit, in the west wing of Southampton General Hospital, at about 05:30 GMT.

The hospital said the fire had been contained and no-one had been injured, adding that patients in all affected areas were evacuated to safe areas elsewhere on the site.

In a statement just after 16:30, the hospital said the impact was "significant" with a number of planned operations on Monday being cancelled.

It said: "As part of the emergency response, our staff moved more than 200 patients to other areas of our hospital where they are being cared for.

"Our focus continues to be safe patient care and moving them to other wards and departments across our site."

The statement added: "The impact of the fire has been significant and will limit our ability to fulfil all planned activity tomorrow [Monday]."

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service said more than 110 firefighters attended the blaze at its peak.

It said the fire had been brought under control by about 10:00 with crews remaining on the scene to dampen down.

Patients were moved to safe areas, including inside the main entrance of the hospital.

Some could be seen in their beds in the hospital's main lobby, which is usually busy with members of the public.

Following the fire, the hospital said its emergency department was diverting patients away unless their condition was life or limb-threatening.

Chief medical officer Paul Grundy said: "Many of us, including myself, had a slightly rude awakening first this morning and were called into the hospital, all hands on deck, to deal with what is a major incident.

"We have all of the clinical teams - doctors, nurses, medics, all the support services - on site, looking after that cohort of patients.

"Those that need a higher acuity support have been moved to the parts of the hospital where we can provide that."

He said many patients were being nursed in the hospital's corridors "whilst we are looking for a more definitive solution".

The hospital said it would be contacting all patients affected by cancellations to make them aware, by telephone, email or text on Sunday.

Anyone with an outpatient appointment on Monday should attend as planned, unless they hear directly from the hospital, it said.

Grundy earlier said the situation had been "hugely challenging".

He added: "We've had to move into a divert mode for patients coming into us from other hospitals.

"We're asking for support across the system, so our partner hospitals in this network, other emergency departments are helping us, but also we'll be needing help from other hospitals further afield, specialist services in, for example, Oxford Bristol, Brighton, and so forth."

At 11:00, several fire engines and an incident response unit were still present outside the Coxford Road entrance, with the smell of smoke still hanging in the air.

Surrounding roads were closed while emergency services dealt with the fire. Most closures were lifted shortly after 14:00, with only access to the hospital's west wing remaining blocked off.

The hospital asked anyone requiring medical attention to use other services in the community, including urgent treatment centres at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton or at Lymington New Forest Hospital.

Speaking earlier, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service group manager Larry Mackrell crews were carrying out smoke clearance at the building.

"We'll have an attendance here for the foreseeable future but now we're looking to scale down our operations," he said.

"At this stage we don't have any information as to what caused the fire or really what was involved."

He said the fire appeared to have "stayed within the room of ignition" but there had been "products of combustion smoke" travel throughout the floor, so the impact had been "significant".

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