The first part of a £21.25m emergency department rebuild at Croydon University Hospital has opened.

The new resuscitation department will look to provide patients in "life or death emergencies with almost twice as many beds and a range of upgrades."

The emergency department (of which resuscitation is a part) now sees about 350 patients each day and peaked at 450 in July 2017. That is a level of demand previously associated with the busiest times in winter.

Lead emergency care paramedic and senior clinician in the resuscitation department Fleur Mosley said: “Patients who arrive here in ‘resus’ are often in desperate, life-threatening conditions. "It is great to be able to provide the best possible care and facilities for them and their loved ones.

“The new improvements mean we can continue providing modern, high quality care and will be better able to cope with increasing demand from Croydon’s expanding population.”

Improvements in the new facility include:

• Eight beds instead of five

• Rooms have doubled in size, with more walls and automatic doors

• It is better located next to X-Ray and closer to CT scanners.

• Technology has been upgraded and expanded, including:

• Infusion pump docking stations for highly programmable automatic medication

• Eight new vital life-sign monitors

• One more oxygen/gas ventilation machine

• A new rapid infuser system for emergency blood/fluid replacement

• Suspended service beams, with sockets and medical gas supply, which are superior to wall-mounted systems and allow 360 degree access