Beds could be freed up at Worcestershire Royal Hospital after a further injection of cash for the winter.

Winter funding which was announced by the Chancellor in November’s budget has already been made available to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals trust to the tune of £1.3 million.

Another £2.6m will be shared between other county NHS organisations; Clinical Commissioning Groups and the Worcestershire Health and Care Trust.

The money will be used at Worcestershire Royal to expand and pay for more staff at the Evergreen 2 ward, which provides specialist rehabilitation for medically fit patients awaiting discharge to an appropriate location.

It will also be used for additional nursing home beds, and increasing the numbers of district nurses and community based health care staff available to patients in their own homes.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We have been successful in securing a significant amount of additional capital funding which will support a number of major developments to improve the quality of care we can provide for our patients.

“Some of these developments – including the new countywide Frailty Unit at the Alexandra Hospital and an expanded Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) unit at Worcestershire Royal – are already open and making a difference for the better.

“This work, and the forthcoming development of a new discharge lounge at Worcestershire Royal, have been made possible by funding from Department of Health winter funds, which comes to around £1.7 million. Further winter funding for the countywide health economy totalling £3.9m has been agreed this week.

“This will be targeted at further improving A&E performance through the winter – including opening and staffing additional beds.”

MPs across the county welcomed the news. Worcester’s MP Robin Walker said: ““Every year the winter poses a particular challenge to health services due to the combination of cold weather, increased levels of flu, sicker patients and staff illness. It is vital that we ensure our NHS continues to deliver the highest quality of care for patients throughout this period, and that is why I welcome this investment.”

“As always I am proud of our dedicated NHS staff who work so hard to deliver this world-class care, and am very glad that they are being supported by this additional funding which will help to ensure that our hospitals and other health services are as resilient as they can be throughout the winter.”

“I recently visited the new Ambulatory Emergency Care unit which opened at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital last month after nearly £1million of investment, and following that visit pressed Ministers to deliver the additional winter funding and so I am delighted to see that this has now been confirmed. With the record-breaking funding announcement earlier this year of £29 million capital funding for Worcester and Redditch, this additional funding remains extremely welcome.”

Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire said: “This money will provide much-needed extra capacity and hopefully help the Trust on its improvement path towards coming out of special measures.

“I’m also keen to share the message that we can all help our local NHS by only using A&E when the need really is urgent and instead use GP surgeries or our local community hospitals where at all possible.”

Nigel Huddlestone, MP for Mid-Worcestershire added: “I am pleased that Worcestershire will be receiving its fair share of additional funding that will be particularly helpful in improving A&E performance throughout the Winter period.”