NHS bosses are understood to be considering leasing portable buildings to increase A&E capacity after the Government scrapped plans for a new hospital in the region.

Officials at the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust have confirmed they are looking at ways of creating more space at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, for accident and emergency patients.

While they say nothing has been finalised, The Northern Echo understands the trust is looking at providing extra space in portable buildings.

Trust officials are expecting an increase in the number of people using the Stockton hospital’s A&E department due to a combination of factors.

The coalition Government recently vetoed ambitious plans to open a £464m superhospital in nearby Wynyard Park, which would have had an ultra-modern A&E department.

Last week, trust officials confirmed that the existing A&E department at the University Hospital of Hartlepool will be closed in October.

Patients in Hartlepool and east Durham will be asked either to use the new minor injuries unit within the One Life super-clinic, in Hartlepool town centre, or go straight to the Stockton A&E unit if they have a serious injury.

A source told The Northern Echo that managers were considering leasing temporary buildings at the Stockton site to provide additional space for patients waiting to see A&E doctors and nurses.

A trust spokeswoman said: “There is work going on at the University Hospital of North Tees to create more space in the department for the people who choose to come to Stockton for accident and emergency care.

“We are considering various ways of ensuring all patients can get through the department quickly, but nothing has been finalised yet.”

Senior managers at the trust are still trying to put together a private funding package to allow the Wynyard Hospital to be built.

The Government controversially pulled the plug on the project earlier this year saying the trust was seeking too much public money at a time when budgets are being squeezed.

Keith Fisher, chairman of the Save Our Hospital campaign in Hartlepool, which raised 30,000 signatures opposing the downgrading of their local hospital, said: “To go to a portable building in another town rather than going to what was a star-rated A&E department in our town is absolutely unacceptable.”