Mansfield MP Ben Bradley has described news that King’s Mill Hospital has been awarded £2m capital funding to improve its A&E services as “fantastic”.

The MP said the support for the Sutton hospital, rated outstanding this year, was fully deserved.

He said: “Since I was elected the trust which runs the hospital has said that the lack of space in A&E is one of their biggest challenges at the site, and it’s brilliant that now we have two local Conservative MPs working together we’ve been able to lobby the Health Secretary regularly over this issue and secure the funds.

“These infrastructure upgrades are part of the PM’s commitment to get us building back stronger, and will help the NHS to prepare for winter.”

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it would enable the trust to increase capacity and reduce crowding.

The extra funding will also support the trust to maintain segregation, reducing the risk of Covid-19 infections and will be spent on appropriate levels of staffing to ensure patient safety.

The chief executive of Sherwood Forest Hospitals, Richard Mitchell, said: “The increase in funding will help us manage the expected increase in patients over the winter months, whilst allowing us to continue to deliver outstanding, personalised and safe care to patients.

“We are finalising the specific details of how the funding is going to be used and we are confident we will improve the physical capacity of the Emergency Department (ED).

“This will help with infection control, will ensure internal processes are robust and will support patient flow to reduce the time patients spend in the ED. Providing safe and timely care for patients remains a top priority for us and I am confident we will be able to retain our high standards of care over the winter months of 2020/21. We are very grateful for the £2m government funding.”