Medway Maritime Hospital is getting ready for an unprecedented number of patients over the winter months.

It comes after the Department for Health awarded the Trust £1 million to help ease the pressure caused by illnesses and injuries as the temperature drops.

Today, staff from the emergency department at the hospital said they were “confident” they were ready for the challenging few weeks.

Andrew Stradling, clinical director at the hospital, said: “We are expecting increasing pressure and we’ve done a lot of work to increase staffing numbers and quality of care we are able to deliver.

“I’m confident we have the right staff in place and we’re increasing our facility size as well so we can address these problems in the future.

“People come to emergency departments because they know where it is and when they come they will be seen."

He said a recruitment drive and educational initiatives have helped make sure there are enough specialist staff in the department to help patients see the right people at the right time.

Claire Hughes, senior matron for emergency care, said: “We are seeing higher numbers of patients and figures are about 8% higher than last year.

“Last week was particularly busy - our emergency care performance sat at 83% but others are clearly also struggling as that put us in the top third.

“We haven’t yet seen the high number coming through with flu as predicted but we are preparing for that.”

There were added fears hospital theatre staff could strike in the new year in a row over rotas, but the industrial action has now been called off.

For advice and assessment on any non-urgent health concerns call NHS 111.