A new ward has opened at London’s busiest accident and emergency (A&E) department to meet the growing demand for acute care beds.

Northwick Park Hospital, off Watford Road in Harrow, was awarded £20 million funding from NHS England last year after patients were being put in corridors to free up space.

Its new 32-bed Acute Medical Unit - built on top of the existing A&E department - has been in use since April but officially opened on Tuesday (July 30).

London North West Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, urged people not to attend A&E unless it was absolutely necessary last June after a record number of attendances in one week, with 700 people treated on one day alone.

Previously, the hospital had 500 beds and no spare capacity. On average, nine patients were placed in corridors each day.

With senior decision makers on hand all week, the new unit is intended to reduce the amount of time patients wait in A&E, improve patient safety, reduce ambulance handover times, and help manage seasonal demand.

Northwick Park Hospital A&E. Northwick Park Hospital\s new Acute Care Unit officially opened on Tuesday (July 30). Image Credit: LNWH

Northwick Park Hospital A&E. Northwick Park Hospital\'s new Acute Care Unit officially opened on Tuesday (July 30). Image Credit: LNWH

It has already handled more than 1,000 admissions, according to the LNWH Trust. Around 45 per cent of those have now been discharged, while the remainder have been sent to long-stay speciality beds.

Trust chief executive Pippa Nightingale said: “We have one of the biggest and busiest A&Es in the country so this is a welcome and much needed addition to our capacity.”

She added: “It’s crucial to maintain flow through the hospital so we have enough beds for people arriving who really need us.

"The new unit will help us better manage this and provide high quality care.”

Cllr Ketan Sheth, a Brent councillor and chair of the North West London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.

Cllr Sheth said: “Additional beds at Northwick Park is great news for patients and it’s also testament to the hard work that we all know Pippa and her team are doing day in, day out. We know services at this hospital often come under pressure and that there is a great deal of need in our communities.”

He added: “Creating additional beds means that patients who need to be admitted are not kept waiting and can get the care they need as quickly as possible.

“What this ward does is give the extra capacity Northwick Park has long needed to prevent people waiting in the emergency department; or indeed, outside it. It means better care for our residents.”