Dunedin Hospital is still feeling the squeeze after a "code black" was declared at the weekend and it continues to juggle bed space.
Otago District Health Board operations manager Megan Boivin said last evening the hospital was just inside code red after being in code black for 28 hours.
"It is still pretty tight at the moment. We have got about five beds and are hoping to have another nine in the next couple of hours, but we are not sure how many admissions we are going to get either."
There had been 24 admissions and 22 discharges by late afternoon yesterday.
Adding to the pressure was sick calls from staff and it was anticipated some staff would still be sick today, she said.
A code black generally means there are fewer than six beds available and elective surgery is postponed.
Surgery was postponed for 18 patients yesterday, including gynaecological, general and urology procedures, but still went ahead for patients already in hospital.
Hospital management were not anticipating postponing any surgery today.
There was some concern on Sunday night patients in the emergency department would not be able to be admitted to the wards, but no-one had to spend the night in the department, Mrs Boivin said.
Each ward took on one extra patient which shared the load around the hospital.
Sixty people had gone through the emergency department at 4.30pm yesterday, compared to more than 100 on the previous two days.
There seemed to be no single reason for the high demand with admissions ranging from trauma to infections to chest pains, she said.
Ages of patients coming through the emergency department also ranged from nine years to 86.
Despite the overcrowding Mrs Boivin urged people to continue to go to hospital if necessary, but if they did not think it was an emergency to see their family doctor or after-hours service first.
"We will continue to treat people as they arrive and if they need to be admitted they will be.
We are not turning anybody away."
Dunedin Hospital previously went in to code black for two days in February.
