Heated cabin as extra waiting area to be installed outside Northampton General Hospital A&E this week

A heated cabin to help cope with demand will be installed outside Northampton General Hospital’s A&E this week.

The hospital has been using a white tent as an overspill waiting area for patients when the A&E department is over capacity. It was initially brought in to protect patients from the sun during summer, but in December 2022 was still in use and patients were waiting in the tent during the below freezing spell that saw temperatures drop to at least -8C.

Before Christmas, the hospital confirmed that a 12 by six-metre heated cabin would be installed in the new year, to help cope with the demand on its A&E.

Now the hospital has confirmed that the install will take place on Friday (January 6) and warned that there will be road and car park closures around the site.

In a statement posted to the NGH website on January 4, hospital bosses said: “On Friday January 6 we will be installing a new modular building outside of our Emergency Department (ED).

“To support these essential works to take place, we will be implementing some temporary road and car park closures.

“We anticipate the site may be busy so please allow extra time for your journey and use alternative entrances and exits.”

An NGH spokesman previously said: “The area will have heating, light, power, and CCTV coverage, and have suitable staffing available to create 24/7 cover, in order to create a temporary waiting area.

“We would like to apologise to all patients who are currently having to wait outside due to our operational constraints and heavy demands for our services.

"On some days we have seen record numbers of attendances with numbers reaching over 500 patients a day.

“Unfortunately, this pressure on services has led to queuing outside of our emergency department at the initial stage where patients are streamed to the appropriate service for their problem.

“We are looking at both a short term, and a longer term, solutions regarding our emergency department services.”

The hospital trust that oversees NGH and Kettering General Hospital declared a critical incident on December 30, 2022, due to “significant ongoing pressure” as the health service battles “one of the toughest winters in its history”. Visiting was also suspended last week due to a rise in Covid cases and staff absences.

The road and car park closures for Friday (January 6) are as follows:

The road coming off Cliftonville road to the Emergency Department and the car park underneath the Nye Bevan building near to the main entrance will be closed from 8am to 4pm on Friday.

There will be access for emergency traffic only during these times. Ambulances and those who need to urgently drop patients off to the Emergency Department will be streamed by traffic management on site and directed to the designated emergency drop off zone.

Other transport to the site for non-urgent drop offs or collections will be asked to use the South Entrance by traffic management teams.