A HOSPITAL will soon be able to to be able to take the final steps to becoming a surgical elective hub within University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust - thanks to an additional £7.6m of funding.

Westmorland General Hospital (WGH) became a designated 'Elective Green Surgical Hub' as defined by NHS England and Improvement (NHSI/E) in 2020.

The hubs were established to carry out more elective surgical operations where patients are deemed suitable and fit for surgery and help to reduce the backlog of patients awaiting surgery due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the hub can treat more patients who are deemed suitable to have their procedure in that environment, it also frees up more space at the Trust’s other two operating sites, including Barrow’s Furness General Hospital.

This means patients who are not able to have their procedure at WGH can be seen quicker at the hospital most appropriate for their needs.

The additional funding - awarded as part of the national Elective Recovery Plan - will be used to continue improving and expanding the theatre department at WGH. Having already completed the renovation of two theatres in the main theatre department with the third due for completion in coming weeks.

The money will go towards the completion of two permanent new state of the art operating theatres to remove the need for the hire of temporary, mobile surgical units and the purchase of new medical equipment.

It will also go towards the expansion and upgrade of the recovery area, the creation of a waiting area, new support facilities for colleagues, energy efficiency measures and improved and expanded storage facilities.

Scott Mclean, Chief Operating Officer, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), said: “This funding is great news for our teams and the communities we serve. This additional funding takes the total amount we are investing into surgical facilities at WGH to £16.7m from 2019 to the end of this project.

“The development at WGH is a key part of our plans to cement the hospital as our hub for elective surgery and will allow us to offer more procedures to patients in state-of-the-art facilities. It will also reduce pressure on our other two acute hospitals in Barrow and Lancaster and give us the ability to continue surgical activity in case of another wave of COVID-19.”

The work is expected to be complete by mid-2023.