HOSPITAL bosses are to spend £400,000 on expanding an accident and emergency department - the first widescale improvement since it was built 30 years ago.

Airedale general hospital's single bay resuscitation unit and cubby-hole sized staff rest room are to be redeveloped.

The project is being financed by a £300,000 government hand-out and £100,000 pumped in from the trust's capital programme.

The project involves re-designing the unit to accommodate three bays - two for adults and one for children, and construction of new facilities for staff, including an office for medical staff and a rest room.

The scheme is designed to cope with the increasing workload - the number of patients using the A&E department has increased from 38,000 in 1992 to 46,000 in 1999.

Trust planner John Sutcliffe says it is hoped to have the scheme completed before next winter. A detailed plan has been submitted to Bradford council planners for approval.

"At present we have one resuscitation bay, which is what the hospital was designed with when it was built 30 years ago," he says.

"That was about right then, but there has been a steady increase in the workload and we need three bays now."

The new bays would displace some of the staff accommodation and so it was proposed to construct an area to provide a rest room, changing and shower facilities and an office for medical staff.

"The rest room at present is a room about ten feet square with a boiler in one corner," says Mr Sutcliffe.

The new facilities would be a big improvement for staff and also for patients, including accident victims and stroke patients.

The hospital management team had won the money from the Government following an announcement in the summer that funds for modernising A& E units was available, adds Mr Sutcliffe.

"We learned that some modernisation money was available from the Government, but we only had 24 hours to finalise a bid," he says. "We were invited to bid at short notice but we were successful."

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