DIRECTORS at Leighton Hospital will meet on Friday to sign off a bid for funding as they look to increase capacity at A&E.

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wants to increase the number of majors cubicles for patients with the most serious injuries from 10 to either 18, 19 or 20.

At a meeting on Monday Tracy Bullock, chief executive, told the trust’s board of directors that the bid is currently being written up and must be submitted to national health chiefs by the end of the week.

“Without this we know where we are,” she said.

“We have said on numerous occasions that the number of majors cubicles we have is not enough for our current activity, and certainly not enough for our future anticipated activity.

“We have got a one-off chance to get this bid submitted.”

Mrs Bullock added that the trust is also looking to introduce some temporary additional majors cubicles as a short-term move to meet demand at Leighton’s A&E.

Figures released at Monday’s meeting showed that A&E admissions at Leighton soared to their highest point of the last 12 months in May.

A total of 7,935 patients were admitted to A&E in the month, compared to 7,170 in April – although the figure only represented a small increase from May 2017, when 7,890 patients were admitted to A&E at Leighton.