HEALTH chiefs have improved how they predict A&E patient numbers in order to better plan for busy periods.

Andy Ennis, chief operating officer of the Royal Bolton Hospital, told board members of the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust that preparations for the Easter bank holiday were already in place.

He said there would be “very significant extra staffing” over the weekend and that in general, hospital bosses were looking further ahead to predict, plan for and monitor busy A&E periods.

Mr Ennis said: “The Easter weekend is consistently a surprise to us that it is a four day weekend. Every year we get caught out by that."

At the meeting last week, he said the hospital’s expected position for yesterday had been minus 39 beds but that staff had taken early action to prevent this.

Mr Ennis also said A&E patient number predictions to work out peak times further in advance were "proving accurate".

He added: “We were one of the best performing trusts in Greater Manchester in the last few days. We are starting to get back where we should be.”

On January 6, a major incident was declared at the Royal Bolton Hospital after its A&E department reached breaking point.

Bolton NHS Foundation announced an emergency plan — used in the case of a natural disaster or multi-vehicle smashes — as doctors and nurses struggled to cope with the overwhelming number of patients in need of treatment.

Bosses downgraded the major incident alert the following day, on January 7.

Mr Ennis said the “unusual winter” meant the hospital would always have faced challenges.

Earlier in the meeting, board members heard the story of a 24-year-old patient who came to the Royal Bolton Hospital at 2am earlier this month suffering from suspected appendicitis.

Due to a lack of spare beds, he was not given a bed on a ward until about 4pm the same day.

In his update to the meeting, the chairman David Wakefield, said: “A&E is the one area I have been disappointed with over the last few months. But if I look over the last seven to eight days, we have met our 95 per cent target.”

The hospital’s chief executive Dr Jackie Bene added that two 12-hour A&E breaches had been noted and reported to the Department for Health since the last board meeting.

Monitor, the sector regulator for England’s health services, receives regular briefings on the Royal Bolton Hospital’s A&E performance.