A huge £30 million expansion of two hospital emergency departments has finally been completed this week after three years.

Two new resuscitation bays at the QEQM Hospital in Margate were the last areas to be finished as part of the NHS-funded project.

It takes the total in the newly expanded department to seven after it was remodelled with a two-storey expansion into a former courtyard.

NHS bosses have splashed £30 million on revamps to the QEQM and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, with £15 million being spent on each.

Other additions at the Margate hospital include a rapid assessment and treatment unit, dedicated mental health facilities, a children’s emergency department, a new entrance and waiting area, a treatment area for adults and a relatives’ room.

Meanwhile, at the William Harvey work had already finished on its upgrades including a large new ambulance entrance, nine resuscitation bays, dedicated areas for patients with mental health needs and 12 rapid assessment and treatment bays.

The expansion also created a new children’s area, a new treatment area for adults and new staff facilities.

Joanna Williams, head of nursing for urgent and emergency care at the QEQM, said: “We are thrilled to bits with the new department, and it is a joy to work in.

“Each area has been designed with staff and patients in mind, to ensure everything we need is close at hand and the patients are comfortable.

“It has been a long road and I’m very grateful to our fantastic staff who have continued to do their best for our patients as our department was remodelled around us.”

KentOnline reported earlier this year about an A&E crisis engulfing both East Kent Hospitals Trust, which runs William Harvey and QEQM, and the trust which runs Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham.

Emergency departments across the county in January reported a record number of patients experiencing delays of 12 hours or more before being admitted to a ward.

Figures revealed 953 people at Medway Maritime faced a so-called “corridor wait” of at least half a day.

But it was at East Kent Hospitals where numbers were highest, with its 1,368 recorded 12-hour waits the fifth highest in England.

With 2,411 recorded, January marked the third month in a row more than 2,000 A&E patients in Kent were left waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward.

But the county’s two other hospital trusts - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells and Dartford and Gravesham - accounted for just 4% of this total.