UNDER-pressure health bosses have revealed plans to create 50 extra hospital beds, including a "surge" ward, in a bid to prevent a repeat of the weekend when ambulances were turned away from Hull Royal Infirmary.
Due to a spike in the number of critically ill patients presenting at hospital, Yorkshire Ambulance Service was asked to take patients to hospitals in Scarborough, Scunthorpe, York and Grimsby.
Professor Ian Philp, chief medical officer at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital stressed ambulances were only diverted from 7pm to 9pm on Saturday and insisted his staff at no pointed failed to meet patients' needs.
However, last night he unveiled a raft of measures designed to lessen the burden on the £3.5m accident and emergency department, which opened last month.
Prof Philp said: "We are looking at creating 50 extra beds and two new wards at our two hospitals. I have a team working on this now."
One of the wards will essentially be a 'winter ward', where patients with illnesses often associated with the colder months are treated, while the other will provide additional capacity in the event of unforeseen surges, such as the one last weekend. Quizzed on how the trust planned to staff these wards, Prof Philp said the trust would be hiring agency staff.
He said: "Cost is not a consideration."
At the height of the crisis, the hospital was placed on "critical pressure alert" – the second highest state.
Prof Philp said senior health managers had discussed, in depth, the surge and what could be done to help prevent a repeat.
He said: "One of the problems we face is people not accessing the most appropriate facility and that's something we need to raise awareness of.
"We had 70 people in our minor injury unit at Hull Royal Infirmary at 8pm on Saturday, but our facility in Beverley, for instance, was underused."
Prof Philp is hoping to recruit GPs, who are usually responsible for providing primary care, to the trust.
"We will soon have more GPs working in the minor emergency unit at Hull Royal Infirmary, which will allow our doctors and nurses to run A&E for the life-threatening emergencies, while protecting the regional trauma service."
The regional trauma service treats patients with multiple, life-threatening injuries, often sustained as a result of road traffic accidents.
Prof Philp stressed that of the 350 people ambulance crews collected in East Yorkshire between 9am on Saturday and the same time on Sunday, fewer than 12 were sent for treatment at an alternative hospital.
He said: "We got on top of the situation very quickly and we were still meeting patients' needs. I am really pleased that by pulling together we were able to improve the situation."
Had the surge happened before the opening of the new emergency department, patients could have waited on trolley beds, Prof Philp said.
However, in a move designed to improve the patient experience, the new-look department does not include capacity for people waiting on trolleys.
Prof Philp apologised after a small number of operations planned for yesterday and today had to be postponed.
He said cancer operations were not affected.
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