New operating theatre opens at hospital

A new specialist operating theatre has opened at a Shropshire hospital to boost surgical capacity and reduce patient waiting times.

The facility, at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) in Oswestry, carried out its first operation on Friday morning.

Mike Carr, deputy chief executive, said 37 members of staff had been recruited for the extra theatre, which is the 14th based at the hospital site.

"It's been a huge programme of work," he said. It's been something that we've been working on for the last twelve months or so. Really exciting day for us."

The hospital provides specialist orthopaedic care for patients from the county as well as north and mid Wales, alongside other patients that are referred nationally.

The first operation at the new facility was a foot and ankle procedure carried out by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Simon Hill, a RJAH spokesperson said.

Carr said it would provide capacity for an additional 1,000 to 1,200 procedures a year.

"That is a significant opportunity to treat more patients and support further reductions in waiting times over the coming months," he added.

He added the process of building the new theatre had taken about a year, but it had opened to patients ahead of schedule.

"We did think we'd be going live early January, so it's great to be able to open it in October," he said.

"That's two more months of treating patients we hadn't anticipated."

Stacey Keegan, chief executive at RJAH said it was an "important milestone" for the hospital.

"Increasing our capacity means we can help more people take that next step towards recovery," she added.

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