A new £750,000 health facility to cope with demand over the winter has been opened at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The ambulatory care unit has been developed as part of major emergency care improvements across the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

The latest CQC report for Queen Elizabeth Hospital in August last year rated urgent and emergency services as requiring improvement.

The new care unit will reduce the number of patients requiring to stay in the hospital overnight because it will be able to book those people in for daytime treatments.

Those patients will then be able to return home and can come back to the hospital if they need another appointment.

Dr Elizabeth Aitken, medical director, said: "The Ambulatory Care Unit is part of a range of initiatives to improve services for patients requiring emergency treatment.

“We have made big improvements at the hospital and have worked closely with Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group, who have opened a new unit for elderly and frail patients in Eltham Community Hospital.

“With our new ambulatory care unit we are able to provide treatment for patients without an admission to hospital and ensure they see a consultant much quicker, enabling them to stay at home and improving the patient experience.”