New QA Hospital Portsmouth A&E department given green light

The government has given final approval to plans for a new £58m facility

Plans for a new emergency department have been approved for a hospital that has suffered pressure on its A&E facilities.

Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital (QA) declared a critical incident in April and ambulances have had to queue outside during high demand.

The government has given final approval to plans for a new £58m facility.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust said it would provide a "modern, safe environment" for patients.

The current multi-storey staff car park at the hospital is being replaced with the new building.

The facility will have walk-in entrances to the urgent care and paediatric centres and an ambulance-only entrance for more seriously ill patients.

It will double the trust's current resuscitation capacity from four adult bays to eight for patients needing treatment for critical conditions.

There will also be resuscitation bays for children and more treatment provided in single bay rooms.

The site will have walk-in entrances to the urgent care and paediatric centres

Penny Emerit, trust chief executive, said: "We have worked with clinical teams to design the layout of the department to not only give us additional capacity but to support them to work in a more streamlined way, with better visibility of our patients and closer access to essential support services such as scans and x-ray."

The hospital declared a "critical incident" in April because of a high number of patients and staff sickness, with the emergency department only able to treat patients with life-threatening conditions and injuries.

It was also criticised in 2016 when ambulances were reported queuing for up to seven hours in 2016 outside A&E.

The funding for the new building has been approved by the Department of Health and Social Care and HM Treasury.

It is hoped the building work will be completed in winter 2024.