York health chiefs are hoping to streamline admissions and slash waiting lists by opening a new ward at York District Hospital to cope with emergency admissions.

The new Medical Assessment Unit would mean emergency patients could be kept together in their own ward instead of being distributed in beds all over the hospital.

This would make rounds easier and cause less disturbance to other patients.York Health Services Trust chief executive Dr Peter Kennedy admitted before a trust board meeting today it would be an expensive move - although no figures were available at this stage - but said it was crucial if the trust was to handle the increase in emergency admissions and meet the waiting list targets set by the Government.

"At the moment when patients come into hospital as emergency admissions there is an issue about where they should go, even before they are medically assessed," said Dr Kennedy.

"The new unit would offer a variety of benefits, including making it easier for staff to do their rounds because they would not have to visit patients scattered throughout the hospital.

"It would also mean there would be less disruption to patients already in hospital, because emergency patients are often admitted in the middle of the night and settling them on a ward can disturb other patients.

"And, of course, it would also stop emergency patients taking up beds already needed by waiting list patients."

York Health Services Trust, which has one of the longest waiting lists in the county, is battling to bring down its waiting lists to 1997 levels by next year, in line with Government demands.

Waiting lists were hit hard at the end of last year when GPs overran their budgets and were forced to cut back on operations so they could pay for emergency cases.

But Dr Kennedy remains confident the trust can reduce its waiting lists by 6,500 and ensure no patient has to wait longer than 12 months.

Patients in need of hip and knee replacement or cataract surgery often have to wait longest for treatment and at the end of March 4.5 per cent of the patients on the waiting list were found to have been there for more than a year.

Health Secretary Frank Dobson has announced additional funding to help trusts with this task and the York trust will receive a share of £8.5m of the Government cash.

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