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Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) is no longer under a ‘critical incident’ status, although demand for NHS services remains high.

The body was forced to declare a ‘critical incident’ on Monday January 13 due to “exceptional demand” on its services and urged people to only attend hospital if their condition was life-threatening, or had a very serious injury.

In a statement the health board said: “We have now reduced our escalation status and have stood down the critical incident.

“However, we are still experiencing significant pressures and remain in a high level of escalation whilst we recover from the critical incident. Therefore, we are continuing to ask local people to choose NHS services wisely in the event of an illness or injury.

“For non-emergency medical needs, we encourage you to consider visiting your local pharmacy or GP, using the online NHS 111 Wales Symptom Checker for advice and guidance, or calling NHS 111 if you are unsure of where to go for help. You can also find the details of alternative services by visiting our online Gwent Health Guide: https://bit.ly/49ZpXI3

“Our staff continue to work hard to take actions to improve the flow of patients through our hospitals. We are also working with our Local Authority partners to speed up the discharge of patients who no longer require hospital care.

“We would like to thank our staff once again for the significant effort, commitment and team work in getting to this improved position and to our local communities for their patience and understanding.”

The critical incident status followed the Welsh Ambulance Service’s own alert on December 30, where it reported 340 calls across Wales were waiting to be answered.