![\"Ambulances](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_MRW_200122_MorristonHospital.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHospitals in one area of Wales are under extreme pressure according to health officials<\/p>\n
Hospitals in the Swansea Bay University Health Board area are ‘exceptionally full'(Image: Marc White)<\/p>\n
Swansea Bay University Health Board has declared a business continuity incident (BCI) – the highest level of operational escalation in NHS<\/a> Wales – as services face exceptional pressure.<\/p>\n On Monday morning the health board described its hospitals as “exceptionally full” and have issued a plea to the public. Health officials said urgent action is under way to try and free up capacity within hospitals, including accelerating the safe discharge of patients who have completed their treatment and no longer need an acute hospital bed.<\/p>\n The public is being asked to do what they can to support relatives who are ready to be discharged. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a><\/p>\n It comes just a week after Swansea Bay University Health Board declared another BCI due to a shortage of beds. A BCI is declared when a health board is under severe and sustained pressure and normal ways of working are no longer sufficient to maintain safe patient flow.<\/p>\n It enables organisations to activate emergency continuity plans, redeploy staff and resources, prioritise urgent and emergency care, and take exceptional measures to protect patient safety. Hospitals remain open and continue to provide care, but services are delivered based strictly on clinical priority.<\/p>\n The health board has also warned that that pressure is not limited to hospitals alone. Community health and social care services are also under significant strain, making timely discharges increasingly difficult and leading to a backlog of patients who are medically fit to leave hospital but unable to do so.<\/p>\n In response, Swansea<\/a> Bay University Health Board is urging families and loved ones to help where possible. \u201cIf you have a loved one who has completed their treatment and has been told they are ready to leave hospital, please do everything you can to support their discharge,\u201d the health board said.<\/p>\n Officials stressed that helping patients leave hospital when it is safe to do so benefits both the wider health system and the individual.<\/p>\n Remaining in an acute hospital bed once treatment is complete can slow recovery, weaken muscles, increase the risk of infection, and negatively affect mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n \u201cHospital is the best place for anyone needing acute care following a serious illness, injury or surgery,\u201d the statement added. \u201cBut once treatment is complete, returning home or to an appropriate care setting as soon as possible helps people recover better.\u201d<\/p>\n The health board says it continues to work closely with local authorities and partner organisations to ease pressures across the system and ensure patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hospitals in one area of Wales are under extreme pressure according to health officials Hospitals in the Swansea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,102,50,2966,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-367221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-health","tag-news","tag-swansea","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}