£3m operating theatre project for New Cross Hospital

A £3 million project to build two new operating theatres at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital has taken a step closer to reality after plans were submitted for the work to go ahead.

Plans were announced after figures revealed that non-emergency operations there are expected to rise by nearly 4,000 over six years.

Health chiefs want to create a two-storey extension to house the new operating theatres, and a separate single-storey extension for a recovery ward.

By 2015-16 the number of non-elective surgeries is expected to be 63,555as Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust boosts the number of city GPs, and does a deal with the Great Midlands Cancer Network.

Five options for increasing theatre capacity were presented to The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Hospitals Trust last month, including extending operating sessions from two to three per day.

The new theatres were chosen because bosses said it would see patients operated on at inconvenient times.

A report to Wolverhampton City Council planning committee says two theatres, two anaesthetic units, two preparation areas, utility rooms, scrub rooms and trolley parking zones would be created in the two-storey development.

Five beds and a staff base would be in the recovery ward. The site of the development is currently a service recovery ward.

Plans are part of a £100m transformation which includes two multi-storey car parks and a Metro stop.

An emergency admissions unit, which is used by people who have been admitted to the hospital by their GPs or arrive at the hospital themselves as emergency cases, has already been created.