EMERGENCY departments at Gwent's three main hospitals dealt with 470 more patients during February than in the same month last year.

The extra patients were spread across the departments at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals and Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr in Ystrad Mynach, and represent an increase of almost our per cent.

Nearly two thirds (320) were classed as 'majors' cases, and this was an increase of more than eight per cent in that category.

There was also 3.9 per cent increase (107 attendances) in the amount of children seen in emergency departments last month, compared to February 2017.

And whilst the number of cases requiring treatment in resuscitation units remained constant overall, the number aged over 65 increased by 12 per cent, and those over 85 by eight per cent, compared to February last year.

The figures are included in an Aneurin Bevan University Health Board report of analysis carried out to try to determine the reasons for increased demand this February.

During the month, there was also an eight per cent increase in admissions across medical, surgical and trauma specialties.

Critical care felt the strain too, with 8.7 per cent and 17.4 per cent increases respectively in intensive care and high dependency bed days. This meant 57 extra bed days, requiring an extra two critical care beds in February, compared to the same month last year.

Winter pressures and the worst flu season in seven years have combined to produce extremely high demand at emergency departments at the start of 2018, and the health board has indicated that this has continued through March.

Figures for February are due out today, but the health board report states that the indication is that last month around a quarter of emergency department patients waited longer than four hours to be dealt with.

The number of patients who waited more than 12 hours to be dealt with is also expected to have risen in February, to 758, compared to 7226 in January.