A NEW unit has opened its doors to patients in Hereford, with the promise of cutting waiting times.

The highly anticipated new £21 million Daycase Surgical Unit at Hereford County Hospital has been opened and is now receiving patients.

Wye Valley NHS Trust said the elective surgical unit is cutting waiting lists for patients by offering a mix of day case surgeries, including urology, orthopaedic, dental, ear nose and throat, gynaecology, cataract, and general surgery.

The cataract theatre in the new Daycase Surgical UnitThe cataract theatre in the new Daycase Surgical Unit (Image: John Burnett)

The introduction of state-of-the-art equipment in a purpose-built, dementia-friendly, environment will vastly improve patients’ experiences and will provide a fit-for-purpose and therapeutic environment to deliver modern healthcare, said the trust.

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Mehmood Akhtar, consultant urological surgeon and associate chief medical director (surgery), said: “This new facility has the potential to make a huge difference for our patients who will be able to be seen and treated in modern, state-of-the-art facilities.

“We appreciate the inconvenience cancelled procedures can have on patients and this new facility will go some way to help prevent the need to delay care and treatment. This is an incredibly exciting development for us.”

Trust chief strategy and planning officer Alan Dawson said: “The demolition of the last of our 1940s hutted wards has made way for this unit which will effectively be a standalone facility.

“It will be run in a way that means it won’t be affected by sudden pressures in our emergency department, which have curtailed routine elective procedures in the past.”

The two-storey centre includes pre-op waiting rooms, assessment rooms, two operating theatres, recovery and a dedicated cataract suite. Furthermore, the daycase unit also houses a main reception and staff offices.

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A dedicated environment for this type of surgery will reduce pressures on staff by moving elective surgeries that currently take place in the main hospital to this new building, improving patient outcomes, reducing waiting times and boosting productivity.

The new facility has been constructed by Midlands-based contractor, Speller Metcalfe, and has been built with sustainability in mind.

This new facility comes as part of a government-backed scheme to deliver almost two million additional routine operations nationally.