WORK on a new £15-million elective surgical hub which will provide treatment for patients living in a wide area of Cornwall is nearing completion.

The new unit, being built in the grounds of St Austell Community Hospital, is set to deliver around 5,000 day surgery procedures a year and aims to bring down waiting lists in the county as well as reducing the stress of travelling longer distances for operations.

The Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is anticipating that the formal opening of the new building will take place within the next couple of months.

The hub will have two theatres, four recovery bays and six pre-op assessment rooms, as well as a reception and waiting areas.

Once the unit is operational, depending on the surgery needed, patients living in South East Cornwall may be able to receive their care in St Austell rather than travelling to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth or to Truro.

The elective surgical hub will be owned by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and operated by clinicians from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

Debbie Richards, the chief executive of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says the development builds on the success of joint working, like the new Bodmin Community Diagnostic Centre.

She says: “This is a really important milestone of our partnership with the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, but also the work that is being enabled by the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.

“It means that local people will be able to access some of their surgical procedures in the St Austell community. These are day case procedures, but it does mean that people will be able to come here and access care in a more convenient way.

“It is also going to provide some additional capacity that means as a system, we will be able to bring down waiting lists.”

The hub, created as a modular building, is being constructed by ModuleCo, which is the healthcare division of BRG Technologies. The company has been building specialist facilities for the healthcare sector for more than two decades.