Patients had to be moved from their wards after a burning smell prompted fears of a fire at a hospital during the early hours of the morning.

Firefighters received reports of a smell of smoke at James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston at 2.18am.

Crews from Gorleston, Yarmouth and Lowestoft responded to the call, but the situation had already been dealt with by the time they had arrived.

A hospital spokesman said: 'In the early hours of this morning staff became aware of smell that could be something burning in a bay on a ward.

'As is standard procedure, the fire service were alerted and as a precaution a small number of patients were moved from the bay.

'The source of the smell was identified and was dealt with by our staff and the patients were returned to the bay.'

A Suffolk Fire and Rescue spokesman said: 'We received reports of a smell of smoke at James Paget Hospital but on arrival there was nothing, so crews were released almost immediately.'

All crews were stood down just before 3am.