Patients have filled nearly every spare bed at a general hospital - despite the opening of an extra ward.

Dewsbury and District Hospital, which takes patients from Birkenshaw and the Spen Valley, had only one of its 532 beds spare on Thursday and two free on Friday.

Since Christmas up to 15 per cent of staff have been off sick each day.

The hospital was shut to admissions one day between Christmas and New Year, putting pressure on Bradford hospitals to take patients who needed hospital beds.

At one stage, every children's bed and cot in Bradford was full, with emergency plans in place to transfer sick children to other hospitals in the area.

And hospital bosses at Dewsbury now say the 14-bed overspill ward must be closed as soon as possible before the increased workload exhausts the staff working overtime to keep it open.

Director of hospital services, Geoff Naylor, said: "We are literally running hand to mouth and we can't sustain it.

"We've never had so many beds in operation here and staff are working their days off and extra shifts. Many of them are coming down with flu and heavy colds themselves."

Dewsbury hospital has been cancelling non-urgent operations since before Christmas. And during Christmas week the hospital ran out of intensive care beds with patients being transported to other hospitals around the country.

Mr Naylor said many of the extra patients were middle-aged and elderly who already suffered underlying respiratory problems, such as asthma, which had been made worse by catching flu and heavy colds.

But doctors say the area is not suffering a flu epidemic.

Mr Naylor said: "A lot of the people coming in are very ill and are suffering bronchitis, heavy colds and pneumonia but technically it's not the flu.

"Each year we run a winter ward but that was already full and we had to open the extra ward on Sunday.

"Staff are all working very hard but they're very tired and a lot of them have sniffles and colds.

"We will close the ward as soon as it is possible for their sakes."

Today MP for Batley and Spen Mike Wood will be visiting staff and patients on the overspill ward which has been opened in the hospital's old Staincliffe wing.

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