Somerset: Sulis Hospital expansion granted to increase patient capacity

A hospital will be further expanded with a new elective orthopaedic hub after planning permission was granted.

Sulis Hospital, near Bath, will perform an additional 3,750 non-emergency operations for NHS patients each year.

The plans for a new operating theatre wing to be built were approved by the council with £25m in NHS funding.

Bath's Royal United Hospital (RUH) bought the private site near Peasedown St John in 2021 and renamed it the Sulis Hospital.

The plans were approved by Bath and North East Somerset Council on 6 March. Completion of the new wing is expected by late 2024.

The hospital will serve NHS patients from across Somerset and the South West and help to tackle the region's backlog of elective, non-emergency surgery.

The expanded wing at the hospital will also create up to 100 new jobs for the area.

Surgery at the site will be protected from disruption and cancellations caused by surges in emergency hospital admissions because Sulis does not have an emergency department, hospital bosses said.

Gill May, chief nurse for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said: "Our teams on the frontline, along with those working equally hard behind-the-scenes, are committed to ensuring that local people can get the care they need as quickly as possible.

"The addition of this new centre will not only support them to do exactly that, but also help to offset some of the unfortunate delays that have been caused in recent times by the pandemic, industrial action and general increases in demand."

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