New "space age" monitoring equipment has been acquired by Airedale Hospital's accident and emergency department - thanks to a £35,000 donation.

The three monitors record and store vital information about a patient's heart rate, oxygen levels, ECG and blood CO2 levels. And devices called bricks, similar to computer memory sticks, enable the data to be transferred immediately to another hospital ward or department.

The monitors can also be connected "live" to the intensive care unit so staff there can observe the patient's vital signs and be fully prepared to treat the person on arrival in the department.

And each comes with a more compact portable machine, with built-in battery pack, that can be transported with the patient should a transfer to another hospital be necessary. The money for the touch-screen monitors was given by Airedale New Venture, a voluntary organisation which has already donated more than £310,000 to the hospital since the group was formed in 2004. It runs the hospital outpatients' shop and ward trolley service.

Gavin Anderson, urgent care unit manager at the hospital, said: "We are very grateful for these state-of-the-art monitors - they will be particularly useful in the way we manage critically ill patients, such as those suffering head injuries or a stroke.

"It is so important to capture all the data as a patient is treated and we can now do this, not only in A&E, but as they receive an X-ray or CT scan and then transfer it immediately as they arrive on a ward."

Ann Cox, a volunteer with Airedale New Venture, said: "It is lovely to see what we are giving our free time for. Most of the volunteers are over 60 and most of us have had something done here at Airedale so we like to give our time back. It's good to see our money spent on something that will really make a difference to patients."

The volunteers also made a significant donation to replace all the chairs in the A&E department and waiting room.