Sick and injured patients needing casualty treatment will be affected by major changes marking one of the most significant upheavals in hospital services in Bradford for decades.

The accident and emergency department at Bradford Royal Infirmary will tomorrow move to a temporary unit, signalling the end of treatment in out-of-date facilities which deal with more than 100,000 patients each year.

The temporary home will form part of a new department opening in October 2000 bringing state-of-the-art accident and emergency care to the city.

And hospital chiefs are appealing to patients to bear with staff while building work on the unit is carried out.

Waiting space will be severely limited although the most seriously injured patients will be the first to gain from the £4 million development using facilities which will form the backbone of resuscitation treatment in the new unit.

Staff were busy over the weekend familiarising themselves with the new unit including fitting and testing equipment.

Patients brought to the infirmary from 8am tomorrow will be taken to the temporary department while walking wounded will be directed there from 1pm. The old unit is expected to shut its doors for the last time early tomorrow afternoon.

Beverley Routh, commissioning manager for the casualty revamp, said she was confident everything would be in place for the switchover.

New arrangements would affect casualty patients but also motorists visiting the hospital with changes to traffic access from Duckworth Lane.

She repeated pleas to patients to bring a maximum of two friends or relatives with them to the unit which is half the size of the existing waiting area.

Security has been enhanced and the latest in 24-hour CCTV technology with extra security guards is now in place.

Among the new features from tomorrow will be better care of critically injured with on-the-spot X-ray machines and the latest monitoring equipment costing more than £80,000.

Patients will also be assessed initially by staff in more privacy than before and there will be better accommodation for bereaved relatives.

Patients - numbering about one in 100 - with non-urgent conditions will in future be redirected to see their GP.

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