New recruits to help A&E

AN EXTRA consultant and two more nurse specialists are to be appointed to North Staffordshire's stretched accident unit.

The move is designed to help get the unit back on track in hitting Government targets stating how quickly patients must be seen.

Managers say dozens of additional patients are coming through the doors as a result of the cold weather.

But ministers insist 98 per cent of casualties are treated and sent home, or admitted to wards, within four hours of their arrival.

The performance at the A&E centre in Hartshill has dipped to around 96 per cent over the past two months in the wintry conditions.

Despite the blip, the unit has still recorded an average of just over 98 per cent for the first nine months of the financial year.

Chief executive Julia Bridgewater said: "We are confident that, with the extra staff and two more consultants we aim to appoint, we can hit our target by the year end."

Chief operating officer Vanessa Gardener said: "We are going through our coldest winter for 30 years.

"The unit treats an average of 260 patients a day but, on one Sunday alone recently, more than 400 people came in for attention.

"We have also opened nine new treatment cubicles which are helping and have an action plan to pull back our performance over the next eight weeks."