Gloucestershire hospitals in £100m upgrade to improve specialist care

An artist's impression of The Gloucestershire Royal Hospital

About £100m is being spent to improve specialist services for urgent and emergency care and planned cancer care at two hospitals, NHS bosses have said.

The trust which runs Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General hospitals says the upgrade also means there can be an extra 3,000 operations a year.

Health bosses say patient outcomes will improve, waiting times will be cut and fewer operations will be cancelled.

Construction has started on both sites and is due to finish in 2023.

The work is funded by a combination of central government, NHS England and local NHS trust money.

Chief executive of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Deborah Lee, said: "At the heart of our ambition is to establish ground-breaking specialist services across both our hospitals.

"At Cheltenham there will be a greater focus on planned care modelled on the outstanding service already provided by our cancer services and in particular The Oncology Department.

"At Gloucester we will establish specialist services with a greater focus on urgent and emergency care."

It's also hoped the redevelopment will help attract and retain staff.

Planned improvements at Cheltenham General Hospital include:

• Two new operating theatres, treating 3,000 extra patients a year

• A new purpose-built day surgery unit to allow a greater number of operations to go ahead

• Refurbishment of the Radiology Department and installation of new CT scanners, MRI scanner

The upgrade at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital includes:

• Significant extension and redesign of the emergency department and acute medicine initial assessment area

• Non-clinical space within the Gallery Wing will be converted to create a new 24-bed ward

• Surgical robotics across oesophagus, stomach and gall bladder patients

Digital upgrades are also being rolled out to reduce paperwork and free up time for clinicians.

The hospital revamp also includes a range of green technologies including a heating system upgrade and pipe insulation, installation of solar panels on roofs and installation of a new battery storage system.

The trust has also said it hopes to bid for more funding to continue improvements.

The new theatre at Cheltenham General could see an extra 3,000 operations per year