Two Augusta hospitals were chock full Tuesday, causing them to send some patients to other facilities.

University Hospital went on "diversion" for patients who needed a medical/surgical bed or a telemetry or monitored bed at 6 a.m. and went back to normal at 3 p.m., said spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester. University typically gets a lot of cardiac patients, so there is normally a high demand for those beds, she said. There might have been a surge in procedures that were postponed during the holidays, Mrs. Sylvester said.

"We're getting cranked back up now," she said.

The extra patients might have spilled over to Medical College of Georgia Hospital and Clinics, which went on diversion Tuesday afternoon except for pediatric and trauma patients, spokeswoman Denise Parrish said. There wasn't a surge in any particular type of patient, just a normal flow, she said.

"It's not like we have a big outbreak of anything," Mrs. Sylvester added.

The problem of diversion, or sending ambulances away to other facilities, was one of the problems highlighted in a 2006 Institute of Medicine report that found ambulances were being turned away at a rate of one per minute. The report blamed overcrowded emergency rooms, a lack of funding and little communication between facilities.