PLANS for a new A&E department at County Durham’s busiest hospital are due to be decided on in the new year.

Durham County Council planners have recommended the proposal for a new emergency department at the University Hospital of North Durham (UHND) is approved.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust wants to replace the current department with a new two-storey building which will have the capacity to deal with the needs of a growing and ageing population.

The trust says the current department, which was built in 2001, was designed with capacity for 30,000 attendances a year but is now seeing double that.

It has previously said that the plans for Durham do not mean decisions about the future of emergency care in Darlington have been made.

It put forward its plans for the new department on the site of Dryburn House, opposite the current A&E entrance earlier this year.

The trust already has permission to demolish the Grade II listed building but can only go ahead with it when the proposals for the new A&E are approved.

The new facility is part of a plan to redesign emergency care services by relocating A&E and Urgent Care together in a “single front door” department, covering 4,506m².

Most of the development would be devoted to clinical space located on the ground floor, with two corridors linking it to the existing hospital facilities, while the first floor would have administration and staff.

Healthcare planners have been working with the trust so the new department will meet existing and future needs of an ageing an growing population, allowing for three per cent yearly growth until 2025.

There are also plans for a new car park with 222 bays which would be built on the grounds of the East Wing corridor, which is due to be demolished.

The trust says the car park will help deal with problems caused by the hospital’s current under-provision.

It has a waiting list of almost 500 for permits from employees not currently able to park at the hospital.

Highways officer John McGargill says he has concerns about the impact on the traffic network, particularly at the County Hall and Sniperley roundabouts.

Durham County Council’s planning committee will decide on the plans at a meeting at County Hall, at 1pm on Tuesday, January 3.