Construction work has started on the final phase of the £18m programme to redevelop the emergency department at Medway Maritime Hospital.

The new majors area, for people with serious injuries or conditions, will be built next to the current ambulance bay.

When it is finished, in late 2017, there will be 24 majors bays, seven bays in resuscitation, and 10 bays in the Clinical Decisions Unit (CDU).

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Clare Hughes, senior matron for the emergency care programme, said: “We’ve struggled for many years in the department as it stands. The department was built for 45,000 patients a year and we now see in excess of 100,000 patients a year so as you can imagine the facilities for patients, and also for staff, are really not fit for purpose.

“Half of the department has already been rebuilt and we’re now just starting the rebuild of the rest of the department which will include the resuscitation room, majors, rapid assessment and our clinical decision unit so this is a really exciting day for patients of Medway and also for the staff of the department who have struggled to work in these conditions for many years that are really not ideal.”

Ms Hughes added: “It’s really designed to provide patients with the care that they need and they deserve, and also the facilities for the staff to work in that are ideal as well.”

Watch: Work begins at Medway Maritime Hospital

Attendances at Medway’s A&E are up 10% on October last year, and one day in July saw more than 400 patients through the doors in a 24-hour period.

The new department has been designed by the clinicians that work in the emergency unit with up-to-date and modern technology.

As well as the new building, the trust has also been addressing the CQC’s concerns about their reliance on agency staff - their vacancy rate is now just 17% down from 65%.

Ms Hughes added: “We can have the best building and the best department in the country but we need the staff that are good and are trained to a high standard of providing emergency care, and that’s what we’re doing and we have been doing while we wait for the new build.”

The emergency department has been undergoing a major restructuring project since 2014 which has already seen the completion of a new children’s department, minors area and majors waiting area.

As work began today, a specially-engraved spade was presented to Medway NHS Foundation Trust from Integrated Health Projects (IHP) - the main construction partner for the redevelopment programme.