Council approves plans for hospital theatre

The aim of the facility is to help meet patient demand

Plans for a new complex of operating theatres at a large teaching hospital have been approved.

Oxford City Council granted planning permission for the extension to the John Radcliffe Hospital on Friday.

The extension will provide a modular theatre building with link corridor, along with two external plant buildings, associated infrastructure, landscaping and parking.

The application was submitted by Carter Jonas on behalf of Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust in September last year.

The block will be built on one of the existing staff car parks

The aim of the facility is to help meet patient demand.

The 24,740 square feet (7,541 square metres) building would be built on a staff car park, which is currently adjacent to the Trauma Building to the east and the MRI department buildings to the south.

In its application the trust said that it would provide "purpose-designed, high throughput, ringfenced elective surgical capacity in a new surgical hub".

It would also feature a "hybrid theatre, giving the trust a leading edge in being able to perform procedures requiring radiology intervention during surgery".

A design and access statement also shows a plan to connect it to the theatre suites in the existing West Wing building.

One of the council's conditions is that work must begin on the development within three years.