Additional ward space has opened today at the Mountainhall Treatment Centre, based in the old maternity wards of the former hospital on Bankend Road.
It is purely for non-covid patients and will accommodate ten people.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway Chief Operating Officer Julie White said: “The unprecedented number of local cases in recent weeks driven by the new Covid-19 variant has resulted in a record number of hospital admissions due to the coronavirus – and this has continued to grow.
“In order to ensure that we are able to continue to provide urgent care to those most in need and to ensure that we have the resources where we need them, we have now enacted some of our contingency planning.
“This will help ease some of the pressure within the system, particularly at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary where treatment is being provided to those most unwell with the effects of covid.”
She stressed it will help retain capacity in the health system and reminded people the part they have to play, adding: “Covid, especially the new variant, is highly transmissible, but its spread of infection relies on the opportunities resulting from people’s interaction.
“If we keep our distance, we restrict that opportunity.”
