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Bedford Hospital bosses hope £6m facility will ease Covid backlog

BBC Treatment roomBBC
The facility was paid for by £6m from the government

A hospital is hoping to see 60,000 patients annually in a new outpatient facility in an effort to ease backlogs caused by the pandemic.

The refurbishment of two floors of the Cauldwell Centre at Bedford Hospital is due to open on Monday.

It was funded through £6m from central government and has 34 new rooms, including three for minor surgery.

Melanie Banks from Bedfordshire Hospitals said there were "significant waiting lists" due to Covid.

The new facility used two empty floors at the centre and was first proposed in October last year.

Ben Schofield/BBC Melanie BanksBen Schofield/BBC
Melanie Banks said the facility was part of the hospital plans to reduce waiting times and backlogs

It includes 27 consultation rooms and four rooms for virtual consultations as part of the hospital's "elective backlog program", Ms Banks said.

She said: "This will make a huge difference for patients, we are almost tripling our outpatient capacity."

Hayley Peacock-Jordan, senior sister for outpatients, said the three treatment rooms "will have a huge impact on our waiting lists for minor surgery".

Ben Schofield/BBC Hayley Peacock-JordanBen Schofield/BBC
Senior sister Hayley Peacock-Jordan believes the unit will make a difference to patients and staff

She said: "With some routine surgery you can be waiting over six months for a routine appointment.

"If we can staff these clinics we can reduce that by weeks depending on the specialty.

"The staff are all very conscious we've got long waiting lists to get through and this is going to have a massive impact."

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