Waikato Hospital is in a critical situation with occupancy at 109% and no respite in sight, according to the district health board.
Waikato DHB says 16 people were waiting for inpatient beds on Monday and expect only two beds to become available before midnight.
About 60 patients were also waiting to be seen in the hospital's emergency department.
Waikato Hospital group manager Hayley McConnell says the situation has arisen due to a number of acute patients being admitted over the weekend and a full hospital last week.
Ms McConnell says some elective surgery has been cancelled and extra beds have been made available, but this has not been enough to meet demand.
She says during August, the emergency department experienced a 7% increase in the number of patients compared with the same month last year.
