Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conducted a whistlestop tour of Gloucestershire yesterday, visiting Gloucester Rugby's Kingsholm stadium, Cheltenham General Hospital and SGS Berkeley Green University Technical College.

Cheltenham MP Alex Chalk invited the Prime Minister to Cheltenham to thank staff working in the brand new £17.2m Chedworth Surgical Unit at Cheltenham General Hospital which opened this week.

The Chedworth Surgical Unit at Cheltenham General Hospital cares for day case and elective surgical admission patients.

Containing two new state-of-the-art operating theatres, the unit will treat an extra 3,000 patients a year.

The building hosts a new purpose-built Day Surgery Unit, with surgeons performing operations on hips, knees and the abdomen.

It also contains a brand-new Interventional radiology room to carry out a range of advanced procedures, shortening recovery time and improving patient outcomes.

The new unit will help slash waiting lists in Cheltenham, and reduce the risk of upsetting last-minute cancellations.

The unit is located adjacent to the Oncology building on the Keynsham Road side of the hospital.

Writing on Facebook, Alex Chalk MP said: "I invited the Prime Minister to Cheltenham to thank staff working in the brand new £17.2m Chedworth Surgical Unit which opened this week.

"It's a really impressive facility, and gives us capacity for hundreds of additional operations, from urology to orthopaedics, every year.

"Thank you to the passionate and dedicated clinicians who showed us round. The Prime Minister was blown away by your energy and positivity!"

Earlier in the day, Mr Sunak, accompanied by Gloucester MP Richard Graham, visited Gloucester Rugby's Kingsholm stadium  where he was quizzed on a range of topics by local journalists including Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen.

His tour of Gloucestershire yesterday also included a visit to SGS Berkeley Green University Technical College (UTC) where he was greeted by students, showcasing robotics, engineering and cyber specialisms taught at the school.

It was the first visit to a UTC by a sitting Prime Minister for 14 years.

The PM was greeted by Lord Kenneth Baker, whose idea established the UTC specialist centres nationally, and the visit was hosted by the local MP Siobhan Baillie, who has been a constant supporter of education and skills in the area.

Gareth Lister, headteacher at the UTC, said: "Our students really excel in their specialisms - all of which are needed to meet the engineering and cyber challenges locally and nationally. The Prime Minister was especially interested in discussing engineering with our female students, traditionally under-represented in the sector."

Kevin Hamblin, CEO of SGS College and the UTC, added: "This has been a really important week for the county, the Berkeley Site and the role of the UTC - culminating in the PM taking an interest in what's happening here.

"The announcement in the Budget securing Oldbury for a Small Modular Reactor  was warmly welcomed and it will lead to the creation of thousands of jobs, many of them in engineering and digital specialisms.

"Chiltern Vital Group (CVG) will soon take over the development of the Berkeley site and have a vision for an Oldbury/Berkeley Clean Energy Axis in partnership with Rolls Royce SMR.

"CVG have announced this week that they have signed a collaboration agreement with Polish firm SGP Industria who operate the Central Hydrogen Valley in Poland and are planning to purchase up to 10 SMRs from Rolls Royce - and will train their staff at Berkeley.

"These developments will complement the University of Bristol's interest in establishing a Centre of Excellence in Nuclear on site.

"It is clear that the UTC will play a central role at Berkeley as it becomes the primary training facility for new-nuclear and clean energy production across the UK, and internationally."