A new centre has opened at a Norfolk hospital which aims to cut waiting times.
Based at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, the orthopaedic centre and Oulton Suite will provide brand new facilities.
The JPOC, on the ground floor of the new building, will operate seven days a week, helping to bring waiting times down.
It will provide some 1400 theatre sessions per year, allowing the hospital to operate on more than 3000 patients.
In turn, its two brand new theatres ‘free up’ two other theatres in the theatre’s main hospital block, so they can be modernised and refurbished to boost surgical capacity for other specialties, including day care operations, and to create a robotic surgical suite.
The Centre is linked to the hospital’s Concept Ward, opened in 2023. The James Paget says this means surgery will continue even at times of peak demand, especially in the winter when procedures can be postponed due to more beds being needed by patients requiring emergency care.
Upstairs, the Oulton Suite will provide more than 500 additional diagnostic tests per week for local patients, using the latest tests and medical devices, specialising in tests to help diagnose heart and lung conditions.
It complements the work of the neighbouring Community Diagnostic Centre, which opened last summer and is now providing some 1000 additional imaging tests for patients every week with its CT and MR Scanners and X-Ray and Ultrasound machines.
Together, these new facilities mean that patients will be offered tests more quickly, resulting in swifter diagnoses which are so important for treating many conditions.
The JPOC and Oulton Suite follow the creation of the Community Diagnostic Centre and Concept Ward on the site which will lead to a brand new hospital.
