First of five new wards opens at Addenbrooke's Hospital

• Watch this video report by ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson

The first of five new hospital wards has opened to patients at Addenbrooke's Hospital.

The 20 bed facility is part of a large scale development to increase the hospital's capacity and help them recover from the pandemic.

The rest of the wards are expected to be ready later in the year. They will increase the number of beds at the hospital by 116.

The first patients to be looked after will be those who are medically fit for discharge but need some form of community support.

The new unit will be followed later this year by a further two wards on another part of the Addenbrooke's site, providing an additional 40 beds. In the meantime, a further 56-bed ward is being built on a site beside T2.

It will have a basement level, linked to the hospital's underground corridor system, giving quick access to key departments across the Addenbrooke's site.

Once his care package is in place, pneumonia patient Albert Lemmon will be going home to Ely.

Until then Albert, who's 84 is in Addenbrookes' brand new 20 bed T2 ward.

It has been specifically designed for patients who are recovering but have had their discharge delayed while arrangements are made for them outside.

Alongside recovery from the pandemic, this additional capacity also enables CUH to better respond as a regional 'surge' centre, during particularly busy times in the health system such as winter, or another covid wave.