According to a statement from NT Health, a "Code Yellow" has been called for the hospital which indicates "an internal or infrastructure emergency, which can include peaks in bed flow or IT outages."

The declaration means the hospital can enact a number of practices to manage the peak until pressures ease.

"Royal Darwin Hospital has been at, or near, Escalation Plan Level 4 for 10 days. This is despite concentrated efforts from all staff to improve patient flow through admission and discharge initiatives," the statement said.

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"Patient safety is a priority and the dedicated staff at RDH work hard to ensure Territorians continue to receive the best patient centred care possible in these periods of high demand."

As a result of the Code Yellow, all category two and three elective surgeries have been temporarily postponed, with NT Health contacting patients to arrands a new date.

"Emergency surgery will continue as normal. Specialist outpatient appointments continue as normal," the statement said.

People have been urged to see their GP as soon as they get sick to avoid needing to go to hospital.

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