EXTRA beds are to be provided in York for elderly people who become ill this winter.

A total of ten extra beds are to be provided from this month until the end of February to try to combat bed-blocking at York Hospital.

It is hoped the scheme will combat the flu epidemic expected this winter.

A spokesman for the NHS Trust said: "There will be ten new beds reserved specifically for the elderly, which is just one of the efforts being made to support health care this winter.

"There is going to be an influx of cases in the winter time, and we are looking at quite a flu epidemic.

"So as far as precautions go for dealing with this problem we do hope this will help."

He said: "The trust will review the situation in February to measure how effective it has been and to help planning for next year."

The ten new beds are to be part- funded by City of York Council, from an underspend of £213,000 on elderly residential and nursing care.

But the rest of the funding is still likely to be hard to find given the current financial straits of the administration.

"The ten extra beds for elderly patients is part of the winter pressures planning which will put further pressures on the Council's budget for Community support as well as residential and nursing care budgets," said a council spokesman.

The extra beds would also prove useful if the hospital was hit again by the Norovirus bug.

The airborne virus, which causes unpleasant symptoms for 24 hours in an otherwise healthy person, can have a devastating effect on the running of a hospital if staff and patients contract the infection.

The bug, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, caused a ward to be closed from October 23 to October 30.

In January, 12 wards at the hospital were closed.

Updated: 10:42 Wednesday, November 12, 2003