Hospital's new £58m A&E on track to open this year

The new Emergency Department at the QA is being built

A new emergency department at a hospital that has suffered pressure on its A&E facilities is expected to open to patients this winter.

The £58m facility will replace the existing building at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital, which first opened in the late 1970s.

The new building has been designed to cope better with rising demands, reduce waiting times and help the flow of patients through the hospital.

The trust also hopes it will help with recruitment and retention of staff.

Dr Peter Russell says there are advantages to the new facility

Peter Russell, A&E clinical director at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said a new resuscitation room would have "double the capacity" of the current one.

"It means we will be able to deal with the most sick and acutely unwell patients in a more timely fashion," he said.

"There are definite advantages throughout, kit-wise and space-wise."

An artist's impression of the new A&E building

One of the hospital's biggest challenges in winter has been ambulances queuing outside A&E during high demand.

The new design will have better access for ambulances, with a covered handover area, as well as a designated drop-off zone for patients.

Mr Russell said: "Flow through the organisation is a problem. It’s experienced by having patients in the back of ambulances or waiting in the emergency department for longer than they should."

He said while he did not think the new facility was the "solution to the whole problem", it was "absolutely part of it".