RONKSWOOD Hospital's A&E department was busy last night, the day after the Bank Holiday.

A hospital spokeswoman said that an "influx" of patients put pressure on beds at around 10.30pm yesterday.

"Some patients did have to wait for a bed to be allocated, although by 1am all those waiting did have a bed," she said.

Beds were available this morning.

Meanwhile, ambulance chiefs have reported an 8.8 per cent increase during July in the number of emergency calls responded to, and a further 5.9 per cent increase in the number of urgent cases they were required to deal with.

Steve McGuinness, director of operations for Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said it was analysing the calls to see if there were any growth areas.

"Nationally they're trying to grapple with why the growth has occurred," he said. "All we can say is that the number of calls are higher and it's not a winter phenomena.

"It's caused a lot of concern and eaten into our resources."

The ambulance trust was due to unveil a new service today to help ease the burden on paramedics.

The High Dependency Service will treat "urgent" calls which do not need a paramedic service.