Hospital’s £3.75m shot in the arm

Dr Tom Leckie, Julie Winterbottom and Dr Nick Gili outside the A&E department at The Royal Oldham Hospital

Oldham's Accident and Emergency department, that serves much of Rochdale following the closure of A&E at Rochdale Infirmary, is set to receive a £3.75million boost.

The money will be spent on the development of separate A&E facilities for children and expansion of the department to drive down waiting times.

The multi-million-pound scheme will be funded from the trust’s capital funds; work is due to start later this year.

The department treats an average of 280 patients per day — around 94,000 a year. The daily total includes 70 under-16s.

The A&E team is made up of 11 consultants in emergency medicine and 85 nursing staff, supported by various other departments.

The expansion of A&E facilities will accommodate the increased number of patients being brought by ambulance from Rochdale and support the development of obstetric, children’s and neonatal services on the site.