The Lister Hospital’s new £20.5 million surgery centre has treated its first patients this week.

The endoscopy and day surgery centre, built as an extension to the current theatre block based at the back of the Stevenage hospital, opened its doors on Tuesday.

The facility includes a suite of endoscopy rooms on the ground floor where a flexible tube-shaped camera can be used to relay images from inside the body, as well as two operating theatres and a recovery area on the first floor.

Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Peter McIntyre said: “We have used this opportunity to create a brand new endoscopy unit, complete with its own decontamination service.

“Numerous clinical and clerical staff have been involved in the design of every aspect and we are looking forward to getting to work in this excellent new facility.

“Endoscopy is an increasingly important diagnostic and therapeutic tool, for which demand continues to rise.

“The service at the Lister and QEII has grown steadily and developed over the years.

“This new unit is the next step and it provides a larger and better physical environment for patients and staff in which we can deliver exemplary, comprehensive care and service.”

The completed unit is one of 11 projects that form part of the fourth and final phase of the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust’s overall £150 million transformation of Lister, which will become the main centre for inpatient and emergency services for the area from Wednesday, October 1.

From then on patients usually treated at the QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City will be able to use a 24-hour urgent care centre based there, which will treat minor injuries and illnesses, with all patients in 999 emergencies being taken to Lister for treatment.

NHS Trust chief executive Nick Carver said: “Once the £150m transformation of the Lister is completed and the £30m new QEII Hospital is also up and running, we will have created hospital services for patients here in Hertfordshire that will be among the best to be found anywhere in the NHS.

“At the same time, through economies of scale, these changes will deliver significant savings in running costs, amounting to £6m annually – showing once again that service quality can be improved while at the same time being more efficient for the taxpayer.”