Frenchay-to-Southmead hospital move for A&E cases

Southmead will now handle emergencies after Frenchay's A&E closed

Medical emergencies will be dealt with at a new site in Bristol after the A&E department moved from an old hospital.

Patients will now be taken to the £430m Southmead Hospital after Frenchay's A&E - some four miles away - closed overnight.

Frenchay first opened in the 1920s and was used by American troops during the Second World War.

Juliette Hughes, a matron at the department, said it was "emotional" to leave but "like moving house".

'Really sad'

"You've got all those happy memories and things that you are leaving behind," she said.

"When you walk out of your old home it feels really sad. And yet we've come [to Southmead] and I feel really excited to be in my new home."

Work on the Brunel building at Southmead Hospital - alongside the current hospital - was completed in March.

Since then departments have gradually been moving from the old buildings nearby and from Frenchay.

The hospital in due be be fully operational at the end of May.

Frenchay will then fully close and will be replaced by a community facility.

The move does not affect the emergency departments at Bristol Royal Infirmary or the children's hospital.

Southmead's new Brunel building will be fully open by the end of May