ONE of the largest A&E departments in the region was so busy it was forced to ferry patients to another hospital 22 miles away, officials have revealed.

Bosses at the 1,000-bed James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough said the sheer volume of patients waiting in accident and emergency, coupled with the number of medical patients needing to be admitted last Saturday night meant that some patients were transferred to the much smaller Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

Patients waiting to be admitted were offered the choice of being transferred to a hospital with available beds or facing potentially long waits at the larger Middlesbrough hospital.

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald described the situation as a "scandal", while Councillor John Blackie, leader of Richmondshire District Council, said it was “bizarre” that South Tees Hospitals was now sending patients back to the Friarage after downgrading acute facilities at the Northallerton hospital.

The Royal College of Nursing said it illustrated the lack of resources in the NHS and urged the Government to increase funding this winter.

The pressures on James Cook began last Friday night, resulting in fewer beds than usual being available the following day.

By Saturday night the situation had not improved and led to selected patients being offered a 22 mile ambulance trip to the Friarage.

A spokeswoman for South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We can confirm the accident and emergency department at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough was extremely busy on Saturday night.

“It was extremely busy on Friday and we started the day with limited beds on Saturday. The pressure on accident and emergency continued throughout the day and we did our utmost to manage the situation and keep A&E safe.

“The volume of patients waiting in A&E, coupled with patients requiring admission meant we did have to seek mutual aid and transfer some patients to the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

“We did advise people through social media not to attend accident and emergency unless it was absolutely necessary.”

The spokeswoman said every major hospital in the North-East was seeing high volumes of patients coming through A&E and it was not unusual to transfer patients to find an available bed elsewhere.

“A couple of weeks ago we had another very busy weekend, even though we are not in the season for trips and falls,” she added.

The spokeswoman said medical patients were assessed before being offered the choice of a transfer and asked whether they consented.

Cllr Blackie said: “All the trust has done recently is to place ever more pressure on A&E at James Cook at the expense of running down services at the Friarage.

"What a bizarre position to be in that you find yourself with so many patients you go back to the arrangements the way they were. In my view they should never have been changed in the first place.”

“What we need to do is bolster the services at the Friarage. The huge area it covers means we can’t do without proper A&E services. To all intents and purposes all we have now at Northallerton is an urgent care centre.”

Jake Turnbull, spokesman for RCN Northern Region said: “It’s only November and we are already seeing the sort of pressure on the system that we normally see in the worst days of winter.

“It’s fundamentally a resource problem, particularly for admissions that come via A&E departments which are subject to a funding formula that isn’t working.

“The NHS is being asked to deliver more for less, and the fundamental problem is that there is not enough slack in the system to deal with spikes in demand.

“Central Government really needs to address the funding crisis, rather than passing the buck back to local Foundation Trusts.”

MP Mr McDonald said: “It is a scandal that patients should have to be ferried across the region like this. The Conservatives have made it harder to see your GP or receive treatment at home or in the community meaning that our A&Es are buckling at the seams trying to cope with the extra demand.”

Recently the South Tees Trust announced that it was looking to make savings of £91m over three years to meet Government targets.