Bus set up at Leicester hospital to help with admissions

The emergency treatment area was set up in response to "escalating pressure"

An emergency treatment area made up of a single-decker bus and a tent has been set up outside a hospital to speed up ambulance handovers.

The bus is parked outside A&E at the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI).

Patients will be assessed on arrival to see if it is a suitable place for them to be treated.

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust said it was a temporary measure to enable ambulance crews to get back out on the road faster.

The trust said the emergency treatment area was "fully and appropriately staffed" and had been set up in response to "escalating pressure".

Last week a critical incident was declared because there were not enough beds in Leicester's emergency departments.

This was stood down on 1 January.

Richard Mitchell, chief executive of the trust, said: "We do not envisage a situation where we are using it continuously over the next year.

"We need to be able to have confidence that all patients are being handed over in a timely way."

Mr Mitchell said the emergency treatment area enabled ambulance crews to get back out into the community quicker

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said ambulance crews had frequently found themselves stuck outside the hospital's emergency department with deteriorating patients inside.

In the meantime, people in the community have waited for paramedics to reach them.

Mr Mitchell said the emergency treatment area would help with this.

"It gives two benefits," he said. "One is transferring patients who were waiting on ambulances into a more suitable environment in a more timely way.

"The most important bit is it then enables that crew to get back out into the community."

However, Mr Mitchell said it did increase the pressure on the emergency department.

"One, because there are more patients under their clinical supervision and two, it is releasing the crews into the community faster to then come back in with another patient," he added.