Ambulances will be diverted from overstretched hospitals around the Black Country and patients will be treated elsewhere to help A&E units cope with the traditional winter surge in demand, it has emerged today.

Temporary diversions are designed to allow hospitals the chance to clear backlogs of patients and free up staff.

West Midlands Ambulance Service and the four major hospitals in the Black Country – New Cross, Wolverhampton, Russells Hall, Dudley, Walsall Manor and Sandwell – have agreed a deal.

It will see diverts put in place instantly without waiting for managers to agree.

Any diversions will be re-checked after an hour and will continue until the hospital is ready to accept new patients.

But if another hospital also declares it is struggling, then each A&E unit will have to cope on its own.

In the past the problem of tracking down managers has taken longer than the actual diversion of patients.

Hospitals have already begun bringing in extra staff and preparing to open extra wards to cope with the expected increases in patients due to slips, trips and falls, and winter illnesses such as severe flu.

Helen Cook, from the Black Country Cluster of PCTs, said today: “Using this divert policy is beneficial because it gives the hospital and staff under pressure opportunity to catch up and reduce pressures in the A&E departments.”

Hospitals measure pressure on a scale of one to four, with four being extreme.

Claire Thomas, spokeswoman for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “By conveying patients to less pressurised hospitals, turnaround times for the ambulance service are reduced and crews are freed up to respond to the next 999 call much more quickly.”