Three out of four hospital trusts in Kent raised an alarm in the first week of January because they had too many patients and not enough beds.

Figures released today by NHS England show Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) was completely full on three days last week and on Friday, January 6 there was only one intensive care bed available in Kent to deal with the most seriously ill adult patients.

East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust diverted two ambulances away from its A&E departments, while on Monday, January 2 Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) declared a major alert, cancelling non-urgent operations such a cataract surgery and calling in extra staff.

As a final recourse, Trusts can completely close their A&E centres, but no hospitals did this, according to NHS England.

In the first week of the New Year, all trusts except East Kent declared alerts, they are among 66 across the country to do so.

A&E attendances have also risen inexorably, with MTW's two emergency departments collectively seeing and treating more than 5,000 more patients between April and December 2016 than they did over the same period the previous year.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Trust said: "The NHS as a whole has reported that it is dealing with the highest ever number of ambulance calls, A&E attendances and emergency admissions in its history. Despite this, the NHS is delivering a good service for the vast majority of patients."