Torbay Hospital opens two new operating theatres

Sir Richard Ibbotson said the new operating theatres would help to "balance up capacity and demand"

Torbay Hospital has opened two new operating theatres for day surgery.

The new facilities cost £15m and are expected to enable 4,500 extra surgeries to take place each year.

One theatre will focus on eye surgery and the other on general surgery, including mobility issues.

While the aim is to reduce waiting lists for day surgery, the new theatres are anticipated to help attract additional medical staff.

Dr Theresa Hinde, the clinical director of day surgery at Torbay Hospital, said: "What we're hoping to achieve is an extra 3,000 local anaesthetic cataract operations in one operating theatre and around 1,500 additional surgical procedures with a focus on breast and orthopaedic surgery in our second new theatre."

The new theatres offer the opportunity "to start to balance up capacity and demand", Sir Richard Ibbotson, the chairman of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said.

"They will improve the mobility, the wellbeing and the eye surgery capacity for the people of Torbay and south Devon."

The day surgeries undertaken in the theatres will range from gynaecological, orthopaedic, breast and ear, nose and throat surgery.

The operating theatres cost £15m which came from the national Targeted Investment Fund (TIF) which helps to increase hospitals' capacity for elective care.

The facility at Torbay Hospital is the first TIF funded elective hub to open.