'Landmark' £64m health centre opens to patients

The Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre hopes to treat as many as 10,000 patients every year

A multimillion-pound health complex, described as the largest building of its kind in the UK, has operated on its very first patients.

The Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre, housed in the Dame Clare Marx Building at Colchester Hospital, aims to treat up to 10,000 people each year.

The £64m purpose-built facility, considered one of the largest of its kind in Europe, offers elective surgery for bones, joints and muscles.

It is hoped the state-of-the-art complex, which has created about 300 jobs, will alleviate pressure on the NHS by helping reduce waiting times and lists.

The new state-of-the-art centre is named in honour of the late Dame Clare Marx (middle)

Patients from the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds are among those who will be treated at the new centre.

Plans have been approved for it to take on 55% of the West Suffolk's procedures.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the centre, said: “This is a fantastic day for us and for those people who are currently waiting, in pain, for an operation that will help them to get back to their normal lives.

“I want to thank everyone for their involvement in this huge project. Everyone has worked extremely hard and we couldn’t have done it without their superb efforts.”

One of the first patients through the doors was fossil-hunter David Spaul, 64, who injured his knee after jumping from sea defences in Walton-on-the-Naze.

One of the first patients to be admitted into the new complex was 64-year-old David Spaul

Since then, the self-employed taxidermist has been unable to work but has now had reconstructive surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee after a seven- month wait.

“I haven’t been fishing since April or looking for fossils, and I know they’ve been finding some really good stuff,” said Mr Spaul.

“I haven’t let it get me down, but I have just tried to be sensible as I didn’t want to slip or injure myself further.”

The centre, boasting eight theatres, three wards and 72 inpatient beds, is named in honour of Dame Clare Marx, who was an orthopaedic surgeon at Ipswich Hospital.

Scott McCaskie, director of MTX Contracts, which built the facility, said: “The Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre project is a landmark development.

“It is the largest building of its kind in the UK.”