PATIENTS attending York Hospital’s accident and emergency department have been warned about disruption while building work takes place.

The work will provide ambulance assessment trolley bays to help prevent delays in transferring patients from ambulances to the emergency department.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it would also allow patients to be assessed more quickly and provide extra beds for those who need to stay in hospital for further observation or who have been referred elsewhere.

The project is due to be completed by autumn and access will be affected during the early stages of the work when parts of the forecourt will be closed off, but the A&E entrance will not be affected.

Disabled parking has been moved to the site’s multi-storey car park and two drop-off points, with a maximum 20-minute stay, will be provided next to the MRI building.

A trust spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience the improvement works may cause.”