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New beds in Ashford & St Peter's hospitals to cope with cold
Thirty-one new beds have been made available at Ashford & St Peter's Hospitals to deal with unprecedented demand during the cold snap.
The A&E department has been inundated with a higher than usual number of elderly patients with respiritory problems and pressure on the hospitals has been compounded by a flu outbreak among staff.
To free up spaces for new patients 20 extra beds at St Peter's Hospital and 11 extra beds at Ashford Hospital have been provided, while a further 16 could be opened at Ashford later this month.
Emergency services manager, Jean Haire, said: "We have had a high volume of patients with respiratory problems together with a lot of acutely ill medical patients.
"It has been extremely busy and stressful and, although we have been short staffed, the care provided to patients and their relatives by our teams and the ambulance service has been exceptional.
"The nursing and medical staff within our emergency services area have been running on low numbers as flu had affected staff and they continue to work very hard."
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