WARRINGTON Hospital’s A&E department was placed on red alert for a four-day period during the first week of 2017.

The hospital trust declared an emergency OPEL 3 alert on each day between Thursday, January 5, and Sunday, January 8, according to NHS England.

Also known as ‘red’ alerts, OPEL 3 incidents denote a ‘significant’ deterioration in performance regarding targets to treat 95 per cent of A&E patient within a four-hour period, leading to patient flow being ‘considerably’ affected.

An OPEL 3 incident is the second most serious alerts behind an OPEL 4 incident, in which patient care and safety may be compromised.

A spokesman for Warrington Hospital said: "The OPEL levels are an operational management tool and the level of pressure in a system is not judged by an individual trust but on the situation in the wider local health and social care system.

"The trust and its A&E performance is only part of the picture.

"OPEL ratings can change several times during the course of a day and so only provide a snapshot for a very short period of time.

"Winter is always a busy time for the NHS - commissioners and providers are aware of this and have prepared for it and are working with social care colleagues to continue to provide a safe, high-quality service for patients and manage local pressures as it arises.

"Local health and social care systems put our regular communications to help patients make the most appropriate choice for them if they are unwell and to remind them of the range of primary care and online options available."

The Royal College of Nursing has warned that patient care is being put at risk and called on the government to address what it called a ‘health and social crisis’.

Estephanie Dunn, north west regional director of the RCN, said: “Our own members working on the frontline are telling us about the significant pressures they are experiencing hour by hour across the system.

“We welcome that ministers recognise the commitment of staff to deliver effective frontline care, however relying on the goodwill of staff to keep the system going is not sustainable over the long-term and must now be urgently addressed.

“The long-term implication of maintaining the system at these unprecedented levels is unrealistic and dangerous as highly-skilled nursing staff will no longer be willing to work in the service and the NHS will no longer deliver an appropriate service to patients.”