First look at New Cross Hospital's £2.5m A&E expansion
The wraps have come off a £2.5 million expansion of New Cross Hospital's A&E, more than doubling bed numbers in the emergency department.
Ten extra cubicles have been added to the facility which will be open 18 hours a day.
Health chiefs at the hospital have described the new beds as a major boost and the investment comes at a time when admissions to A&E begin to rise.
There had been nine cubicles and plans are in place for a new £28 million emergency unit to open in 2015.
Last month it was revealed 30 nurses had been taken on to help with a forthcoming surge in demand at the hospital as the busy winter period approaches.
Sukhdip Parvez, the unit's manager, said: "In terms of patient experience these facilities are brilliant. It's a nicer and more private environment and frees up corridors where we have had to manage the treatment of patients before.
"That's not ideal and if I was a patient I wouldn't want to be going in the corridor.
