Work is underway on a £17.2million surgical complex at Cheltenham General Hospital.

The new day surgery unit and two new theatres will be able to treat 2,500 more patients a year and help deal with the backlog of operations which built up during the pandemic.

The £7.9m Chedworth Surgical Suite will be the first section to open in early 2023 and will include a new reception area, 27 private pre-operative/post-operative rooms and a treatment room. Two new theatres costing £9.3m will then open in autumn 2023.

The building work, being undertaken by contractors Kier, is part of a wider £100m-plus programme of investment across Gloucestershire Royal and Cheltenham General Hospitals.

Margaret Coyle, chief of service for the surgical division and consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, said: "The building work is the culmination of many years of work and once fully completed will mean that we will be able to treat thousands more patients a year.

"There will be dedicated pre and post-operative rooms where patients are prepared before surgery and closely monitored afterwards. The facility will be ring fenced for day surgical patients and surgical admissions so the likelihood of procedures being cancelled will be less."

Surgeons at Cheltenham General operate on about 5,000 day cases per year across a wide range of specialities including gynaecology, colorectal, upper GI, breast, orthopaedic and urology. The new surgical suite will increase that number to about 7,500.

The two new theatres will also enable surgery to increase by 2,500 with orthopaedic, general surgery and urology patients in particular set to benefit.

Cathryn Braithwaite, acting matron, said the new facilities will mean the day surgery team we will be located in one area and be able to support each other in a much better way.

She added: "These facilities will make a massive difference to staff. There will be a purpose-built environment where clinical colleagues will have the best possible opportunity in which to provide the kind of care they came into the job to do."