Patients are being treated more quickly and pressure on Accident and Emergency is decreasing as Nottingham's hospitals announce a crisis has been downgraded.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, declared an "internal incident" on January 6 due to the sheer number of people to see and treat - forcing medics to cancel operations and clinics.
Extra staff were freed up and used in A&E to help cope with the "exceptional" demand caused by cold weather and difficulties discharging patients into the community.
But now, Peter Homa, chief executive of NUH, has stepped down the "internal incident" – which meant extra monitoring was taking place as well as resources being shifted.
Mr Homa said: "We declared an internal incident on 6 January in response to the exceptional post-Christmas pressures on our services. Yesterday, we stepped down our internal incident.
"However, with pressures remaining on our services, staff across NUH and the wider health system continue to work with the same intensity and focus to ensure timely and safe care for emergency patients.
"There are encouraging signs. More patients week on week are receiving more timely care, despite our emergency admissions remaining high compared to other hospitals and some NUH and nursing home bed closures due to infection."
The latest figures show that during the seven days from January 9 to 16 2,896 people attended A&E at the QMC – 325 less than the previous week.
And staff at A&E are seeing 84.5 per cent of patients within four hours, which is marginally better than the national average.
The colder weather, which leads to a rise in respiratory conditions for older people and increases the number of falls, also had a knock on effect on the workload of GPs.
Dr Ian Campbell, GP at Park House Medical Centre in Carlton said: "Things are still quite stretched, we're still full.
"But people have become very aware that the health services locally have become stretched and have been doing their best as individuals to avoid appointments. "GPs and staff have been working hard to reduce hospital admissions and that means getting community service and nurses."
He added: "It's been very difficult, it's the worst it's been for 15 years or more. It's largely because demand is constantly increasing. I think the demand is continuing to increase but we will see a lull to the spring."
