Hospital bids for new wards

Hospital authorities want to avoid overcrowding

A Derbyshire hospital has asked for £6m to help it cope with winter waiting lists.

The Chesterfield Royal Hospital says it is struggling to meet demand during the winter with the current number of beds, and urgently needs extra capacity.

Now it has submitted plans to the region's strategic health authority for almost £6m to be spent on new wards.

The £6m expansion would allow the hospital to convert an existing education centre into two wards with a total of 60 beds.

Little capacity

The hospital has already received an interim grant of £500,000 from the health authority to start the expansion work.

Sarah Turner-Saint, head of communications at the Chesterfield Royal, said a decision on the rest of the money is expected by the end of October.

If the money is available, the new beds should be ready for the winter of 2003, she said.

In a short-term measure, room for six extra beds is being made at the hospital.

Ms Turner-Saint said: "We just haven't got enough capacity on site and of course it gets extra busy during the winter.

"GP referrals are increasing and basically we need more beds to deal with the number of patients coming here."