The James Paget University Hospital is 'so busy' that operations have been cancelled in an attempt to cope.

The Gorleston hospital was unable to confirm how many ops had been called off this week, but a spokesman confirmed ongoing pressures had resulted in cancellations.

The spokesman also confirmed that there had also been cases of Norovirus at the JPUH this week, but said it was not an outbreak of the highly contagious vomiting bug that had forced operations to be postponed.

She said: 'There are some cases of Norovirus still occurring at the hospital but the cancellations are part of a bigger picture of the general pressures being experienced.

'There have been cancellations due to those emergency pressures.'

At JPUH's recent board of directors meeting, Andrew Palmer, associate director of performance and planning, said at the levels currently being experienced the trust would come close to seeing 70,000 people attend the hospital for the first time.

He also reported a year on year increase in ambulance arrivals of 14pc and a year on year increase of 9.12pc in demand for A&E.

Chief executive Christine Allen praised staff for doing a 'phenomenal job' in the face of 'extreme pressures'.

The last serious outbreak of Norovirus at the Paget was in December last year.

At the time, the trust urged people showing symptoms of the highly contagious bug to stay away from hospital and instead contact their GP or out-of-hours service on 111 for advice.