Topping out ceremony completes hospital theatre

A topping out ceremony has taken place to mark the construction of a new operating theatre at a Somerset hospital.

Yeovil Hospital will get its fifth operating theatre and a ward with 20 beds.

NHS bosses said the new facilities would cut waiting times for patients at Yeovil District Hospital.

The new theatre, expected to specialise in orthopaedic operations, will open in summer 2025.

The funding for the £15 million joint development came from NHS England's elective care recovery fund, which is money allocated to NHS trusts following the COVID-19 pandemic to bring waiting lists down.

The topping out ceremony, attended by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust clinicians and workers from construction company Morgan Sindall, was finished with the ceremonial task of tightening the final bolt.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said the fifth theatre development came about following a rise in the length of the trust's waiting list after the pandemic.

It also forecast a growth in the number of patients who are likely to need care in the future.

Dr Matthew Hall, an orthopaedic consultant at Yeovil Hospital, said: “We’ve seen across the country how patients have been waiting a long time for operations, and this sort of development will go a long way to helping address this."

Hospital bosses hope to get as many patients home on the same day after surgery and have designed the new ward to accommodate day care.

“The area will have a gym space for rehabilitation too, helping patients to avoid a stay in hospital and giving them all the rehab they need for when they return home, so that they’re less likely to need to be readmitted to hospital," continued Mr Hall.

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