London, Mar 28 (PTI) A new state-of-the-art National Health Service (NHS) hospital opened in Berkshire, south-east England, on Monday as part of the UK health service efforts to clear the backlog of non-emergency procedures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, part of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, will focus on cutting wait times for routine care, with staff briefed to prioritising patients who have been waiting longest, including for orthopaedic and ophthalmology services. The taxpayer-funded NHS hospital houses six operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds and 22 day-case cubicles and provides surgical, diagnostic and outpatient care, and will treat patients across Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey – counties south-east of London.

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“This brand-new hospital will be the first of its kind on our road to recovery and reform, putting patients in need of non-urgent care first and helping them to get the checks and treatments they need,” said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

“We are delivering on our promise to tackle the Covid backlogs by ramping up routine surgery and providing quicker diagnoses – alongside other initiatives which include new surgical hubs and Community Diagnostic Centres, helping us to deliver 9 million more treatments, scans and operations by 2024,” he said.

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An elective recovery plan, published by the NHS in February, set out a blueprint to address backlogs built up during the pandemic and aims to increase capacity over the next three years to deliver around 17 million diagnostic tests. The NHS said its new hospital follows other new community initiatives to tackle the backlog and get life-saving health checks to thousands of patients, including one stop diagnostic centres, same day hip replacements and mobile CT and MRI scanners.

“This fantastic new facility shows how the NHS is adapting and changing to meet current demands – putting in practice what we learnt about planned care during the pandemic,” said NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard.

“While new dedicated surgical hubs have been made available across the country to help protect non-urgent care, this hospital is the first purpose built facility aimed at tackling backlogs and getting quicker checks and treatments for patients who need routine care,” she said.

A record number of people are waiting for non-emergency hospital care after being referred for specialist care by their general practitioner (GP), with estimates of around 6.1 million people in England on waiting lists.

NHS national medical director, Professor Stephen Powis added: “We continue to pull out all the stops to address COVID-19 backlogs in routine care that have inevitably built up, and this new hospital in Berkshire is a brilliant example of what we are doing to reduce long waits.

“While seasonal pressures and COVID cases continue, we are determined to make the best possible use of the additional recovery investment and ‘one stop shops', one day hip replacements, and mobile CT and MRI scanners are just a snapshot of the initiatives our teams are driving forward to accelerate vital treatments, tests and checks for patients.”

The new hospital will include a range of outpatient services under the same roof including gynaecology, urology and cardiology services. These will be supported by services offering patients endoscopy, physiotherapy, phlebotomy and radiology checks and treatments.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)