King Edward VII Memorial Hospital remains on alert but has eased to level 2 following an improvement in bed capacity.

Scott Pearman, the chief executive and president of Bermuda Hospitals Board, said that after reaching crisis point because of overcrowding, the hospital was able to open up additional space and saw a doubling of patients in two of the larger acute care wing unit rooms.

He added that the number of patients waiting for a bed in the Emergency Department had decreased by 50 per cent.

Last month, the hospital’s alert level was upgraded to 3, with 4 being the highest.

At present, Emergency Department boarding has averaged 13 patients over the last seven days with a rising trend in the past four days from 10 to 19 boarders.

Discharges have outpaced admission once in the past five days while boarding levels remain “above the threshold for relief action”.

Mr Pearman thanked staff for “stepping up” and said this, along with working with patients and families to increase discharges, had eased pressure.

He added: “Along with the immediate responses to real-time surges, we continue to work on longer term plans, such as at-home monitoring and bed flow improvements to provide relief."

BHB said that as pressure begins to rise again, it is opening additional space to help accommodate beds faster, reduce back-up in the Emergency Department and ease crowding across inpatient units without compromising care.

A spokeswoman said: “We will continue with our current surge actions such as having two patients in certain ACW acute care rooms.

“Bed capacity is reviewed by a team of BHB staff from across clinical and support units twice a day and the organisation will continue to monitor the situation to ensure we respond appropriately based on the data.

“Other ideas for improving BHB's response to surges are being worked on by a BHB staff and leadership task force, along with longer-term solutions that may help us discharge safely earlier, or avoid admission altogether, such as at-home monitoring equipment which would allow the hospital to monitor an individual at home rather than have them waiting in hospital.”

Waiting lists for those needing a hospital climbed to record levels because medically fit patients were not being discharged.

Judy Richardson, the Chief of Nursing, said last month that the overflow of patients resulted in some being cared for in corridors.

At that time, BHB confirmed that 34 people were waiting for a bed at KEMH while more than 40 patients were medically fit but had not been discharged.