First look at New Cross Hospital's £2.5m A&E expansion

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.

"From a patients' experience I'm very excited about the unit."

The extension boasts an isolation cubicle where people who are suffering from contagious illnesses such as winter sickness bug norovirus can be segregated from other patients.

As well as this there are larger cubicles and a nurses' station purposely situated in the centre of the unit so all patients can be observed continuously.

Mr Parvez added: "There has been an increase in the number of admissions in the last few weeks and that is something which is expected at this time of year.

"The opening of this unit has come at a good time because in winter we get more people in with viruses and respiratory problems."

Earlier this year the Express & Star reported that an extra 53,000 patients were expected to go through the A&E doors of New Cross Hospital in the next decade.

When the hospital opened its current emergency department in 1996 around 70,000 patients were being admitted per year – by 2012/13 that had gone up to 107,000.

Last week the hospital's chief executive David Loughton said the expansion would ease pressure on staff but admitted not all A&E issues would be solved.

Caroline Harper, who is a senior nurse at the hospital, said: "This unit is hugely important because of the numbers of people we see coming through the doors at this time of year.

"Having a larger space to work in means it's much more comfortable for patients but it also means nurses and doctors aren't in each others' way."

Record patient numbers have come through the unit's doors in the past year.

It saw 10,018 patients in July – an all-time monthly record for the hospital – at an average of 323 a day.

That smashed the previous monthly record by around 600 patients, with the previous hit set in July 2012. A £2.5m winter action plan is in place to cope with the expected surge in demand this winter.

As well as taking on 30 extra nurses this year, the trust has hired six consultants and moved towards a seven-day working pattern with more staff at weekends.

Mr Loughton had previously brandished the department as 'unfit for purpose' and expressed concern that a patient could soon die in a corridor.

The unit has also consistently scored low marks in a new NHS Friends and Family Test, which asks people whether they would recommend the hospital to a friend or family member based purely on the treatment they had just received.