The trust that runs a Romford hospital is seeking millions of pounds to rebuild its A&E department.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) chief executive Matthew Trainer revealed it is in preliminary discussions about securing £35 million needed to make it possible.

He said: "The A&E at Queen’s was built for 300 people a day. In March, the average daily attendance was more than 600."

BHRUT, which also runs King George Hospital in Goodmayes, said last month was its busiest on record with more than 30,000 patients coming through its A&Es and urgent treatment centres.

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The latest NHS England A&E performance figures, published last week, showed BHRUT treated 77.57 per cent of all patients within four hours in March, ahead of the national recovery target of 76 per cent by the end of the month.

The trust said this saw 7,300 more patients seen, treated, and either sent home or admitted within four hours compared with March 2023.

Romford Recorder: Matthew Trainer, BHRUT chief executiveMatthew Trainer, BHRUT chief executive (Image: BHRUT)

There was also a 20pc improvement on the previous year in terms of performance relating to the most seriously ill patients.

The steps forward come after the trust was rated the worst in the country for A&E performance for those with less serious health needs last year.

Mr Trainer said: “It’s thanks to our staff and to the colleagues who run our urgent treatment centres that waiting times continue to drop at Queen’s and King George hospitals.

“But too many of our sickest patients are still having a poor experience. In March, many of our elderly patients had to spend the night on beds in the corridors of our emergency departments due to overcrowding and long waits for admission. This puts what we’ve achieved in context, and we have a lot more work to do to put an end to corridor care.”