MAJOR plans to move and expand the county’s A&E department have been put forward.

The multi-million pound work would see the relocation of the A&E department at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the creation of a new ‘emergency village’ on the site.

The plans, which have now been submitted to Worcester City Council for consideration, were drawn up after £15 million was made available to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to deliver improvements in urgent care facilities in the city.

Drawings show a 971 square metre single-storey extension to the side of the hospital’s Aconbury East ward which will house its new urgent and emergency care facilities. A dedicated children’s A&E department will also be built.

The hospital trust said it also plans to move its helipad to allow patients brought in by air ambulance to go straight into A&E rather than having to be transported by ambulance.

Dr Jules Walton, the hospital trust’s divisional director for urgent care, said the work would provide a better setting for patients and improved working environment for staff as well as help cut waiting times.

“This is a really exciting project which will give us a bigger emergency department to care for the growing number of patients who need our services each year – but it will also be much more than that,” she said.

“Our plans also include a dedicated children’s emergency department, X-ray and other diagnostic facilities and a range of same-day emergency care and short stay urgent medical services all in one unit.”

Hospital trust chief executive Matthew Hopkins said: “We have seen at the Alexandra Hospital how reconfiguring the emergency department and acute medical services has delivered real improvements in waiting times and patient experience and we are keen to build on that with the development on our Worcester site.”

The plans can be viewed via the planning section of the council’s website. The application number is 21/00319/FUL. Public consultation ends on May 18.