A new ‘planned care’ hospital dedicated to non-emergency treatment is due to open in Berkshire, focusing on cutting waits for routine care.

Part of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, staff at Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot will prioritise patients who have been waiting longest, including for orthopaedic and ophthalmology services.

The 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.

There will also be 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 new hospital follows other new community initiatives helping 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.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: “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. 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.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid added: “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. 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 nine million more treatments, scans and operations by 2024.”

Neil Dardis, chief executive of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, said:  “This will be one of the best planned care hospitals in the NHS, using technology and innovation to provide the best treatments and experience for our patients. The entire building has been designed to provide easy, efficient and excellent care and help to reduce waiting times for patients needing planned procedures. Heatherwood Hospital is incredibly important to our community, and I’m so pleased for our teams to be working in such a fantastic facility that will greatly improve care for our patients.”