NHS at 75: New surgical unit for Northallerton boosts celebrations

Staff at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton held a tea party in the town centre

Staff marking 75 years of the NHS at a hospital in Northallerton said they had a special reason to celebrate, with news of a £35.5m investment.

The Friarage Hospital received the funding to build a new operating theatre block as part of government investment in 50 UK surgical hubs.

The existing operating theatre at the hospital has been described by staff as a "well loved Morris Minor".

But manager Sarah Baker said the new unit promised "exciting times ahead".

A new multi-million pound surgical centre is planned to open at the Friarage in March 2025

Ms Baker, service manager for perioperative services and critical care medicine, was speaking at a celebratory tea party held in the town centre.

She said: "The theatre we've got at the moment is quite old and it definitely needs a refurb."

The plans for the Friarage include six main operating theatres, two minor operating theatres and a surgical admission and day unit, she said. The unit would open in March 2025.

"Northallerton is such a lovely place to work, it'd be a fantastic place for people to start their career," she added.

Northallerton celebrations included an exhibition of wheelchairs and bicycles from the 1950s

An exhibition showing how the hospital has changed was part of the NHS anniversary celebrations.

James Dunbar, consultant in infection general medicine at Friarage Hospital, said the exhibits, which included old bicycles and wheelchairs, showed how "technological it is these days, compared to when we started".

"The guys in 1948 couldn't even have imagined some of the things that we do now," he said.

He told the BBC the NHS ethos had not changed over the 75 years since it began and that was "something to be optimistic about".

"Everybody in the land has bought into the idea that we should have universal health care delivered on the basis of need and not on the ability to pay for it. That ethos runs through everything that we do here," he said.

Critical care nurse Sue Scaling said it was "wonderful" to celebrate after a number of years which had been "a bit difficult for everybody"

The new surgical unit's increased capacity would almost double the number of planned operations carried out on the site from 5,000 to just under 10,000 a year, officials said.

Sue Scaling, a critical care nurse at the hospital, said: "It's a positive time, it's really exciting, after we have limped along for a few years.

"The staff are really enthusiastic and keen to get on with the job and the new unit will make us really stand out in the operating theatres of the future."