Millions of pounds to be spent modernising Royal Cornwall hospital over the next decade
Watch Grace Pascoe's report
Hundreds of millions of pounds will be spent modernising large parts of Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro over the next 10 years.
Patients in Cornwall should benefit from a new women and children unit, and a new oncology and MRI building - as well as additional hospital beds and a multi-storey carpark.
The redevelopment project is in its first phase and will house a brand new cancer ward with an extra six beds and an MRI unit by 2022. Sarah Caskey, Clinical Matron for Cancer Services, RCHT said: "What we know is instances of cancer are rising and we therefore need to move with the times to be able to provide that.
"We'll have a fit for purpose unit, more beds and more specialist isolation units.
"This means everyone that needs a bed we will hopefully have the accommodation to provide that. You know it's really exciting, it just means a whole new concept for us providing cancer care in Cornwall."
A relocation unit is also being built on the Treliske site which will have around 50 medical beds.
Dr Allister Grant, Medical Director at the RCHT said: "We've got a very wide range of building projects going on at the moment which will give us 21st century and 22nd century buildings for the people of Cornwall."
"We've been given over £100 million to rebuild Princess Alexandra Wing and the women and children's hospital. And we've also been promised health infrastructure funding to the tune of over £400 million pounds for buildings here and around the rest of Cornwall as well.
"It feels like Cornwall has been put on the map in terms of health, it feels like people have realised that we deserve to have fantastic new facilities."
The government chose the site in Cornwall as one of 40 new hospitals to be built around the country.
Roberta Fuller, Head of Hospital Reconfiguration at the RCHT said: "It shows we're being valued and for people that work here knowing you'll have a modern hospital, not to travel to Derriford is of value.
"This building work will go on probably for the next decade in some form or another, so end of 2024, 2025 we'll open the Women's and Children's Hospital but then we have to reconfigure the rest of the hospital around it and there will be other changes to make the site more accessible, more coherent and to provide services at the right time, in the right place for patients."
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