New £50m elective centre coming to Bristol hospital
Bristol’s Southmead Hospital is one step closer to getting a new elective centre worth nearly £50m.
The elective centre will cost £49.9m and will provide capacity for an additional 6,500 operations a year to be carried out - benefiting patients across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
If everything runs smoothly, the site should open in Spring 2025.
The plans have received approval from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.
The centre will include four surgical theatres and 40 beds for patients to recover, 12 rooms for patients to prepare for/recover from surgery, and x-ray facilities.
It will mainly be used for orthopaedic procedures, with the most common being hip and knee replacements.
Stuart Walker, chief medical officer and Deputy chief executive at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust said: “We welcome the very positive news that the new Elective Centre has been given approval, meaning more people in our local area will get access to quicker, high-quality care.
“Our organisations are working together to develop plans to ensure there are mutual benefits for both trust’s services so that more people can be cared for as quickly as possible.
“The Elective Centre will support both trusts to reduce waiting times for elective procedures and be a welcome addition to patients across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire from Spring 2025.”
NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board director of performance and delivery, Lisa Manson, said: “Tackling the planned care backlog that built up during the pandemic remains a high priority for our health and care system and we are working hard to reduce the number of people who experience longer waits for treatment.
"We are making good progress and the new elective care centre for our area will provide a significant boost to our plans, with the capacity to deliver thousands more operations each year.”
Mr Vinay Takwale, medical director for NHS England in the South West, said: “This is the latest step in our strategy to increase capacity in the South West, so we can treat more people, more quickly. With extra community diagnostic centres also on the way, we should see real gains over the coming years.”
Health minister Will Quince said: “Surgical hubs are helping to speed up access to treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients across the country – backed by £1.5 billion in government funding.
"These four new theatres and 40 beds will deliver 6,500 extra operations a year across Bristol, Somerset and Gloucestershire, helping to keep pace with rising demand and ensure patients receive rapid access to the highest quality treatment.”