Edinburgh Royal Infirmary bosses believe the hospital could be swamped by scores of revellers as thousands of people pack the city centre for the New Year Celebrations.

The drastic measure to ensure the Infirmary's casualty department copes was announced by Health Minister Susan Deacon on Friday.

The number of medical staff working at the hospital will also be doubled between Christmas Eve and 5 January.

Additional support staff, facilities and overflow treatment areas will also be made available to meet the anticipated demand.

Threatened to quit

In 1996 the hospital's accident and emergency section was overwhelmed by people requiring treatment.

In total 579 people were treated, but hospital bosses want to avoid a repeat of that night when medical staff struggled to cope.

It is thought about 180,000 people will pack Princes Street and the city centre to see in the New Year.

Last year the hospital was forced to hire agency workers to deal with the number of casualties requiring emergency treatment because too few full-time staff were willing to work.

Doctors and nurses later discovered the agency workers were paid more than them. They threatened to quit if it happened again.

'Low paid workers losing out'

The Royal Infirmary has agreed to give staff treble their basic rate of pay and a day off in lieu for working through Millennium night.

The deal means senior doctors will receive more than £30 an hour for being on call and staff nurses could net £25.

But Unison branch secretary, Tom Waterson, warned that low paid hospital workers like porters and catering staff would lose out.

He said medical staff would be getting £500 for the night while lower earners would be taking home less than £100 for working the same hours.

"We are happy with the bulk of the agreement, but we do feel that it discriminates against low paid staff," he said.

Mr Waterson said that ideally every hospital employee, regardless of their status, should be given a one-off payment of £200 for the night.