The dedicated £49.9 million centre for planned operations has created capacity across Bristol hospitals to enable an additional 6,700 procedures to be carried out each year.
The Princess Royal Bristol Surgical Centre was built with funding from NHS England as part of efforts to reduce the elective surgery backlog that built up during the Covid pandemic.
It is a joint project between North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, supported by Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board.
The surgical centre, which has been named in honour of Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, has four operating theatres along with X-ray facilities, medirooms where patients are admitted before surgery and for recovery and a 40-bed inpatient ward.
The first inpatients moved into the centre from the Orthopaedic Ward in the Brunel building - 7B - on 22 August, ahead of the first operations in the centre on 26 August.
The first patient through the doors of the new centre’s Rowan Ward was Kenneth Middleton, who had his hip operation in the Brunel building and was moved the following day.
“It’s an amazing building, and as I was coming in I felt it didn’t have the feeling of a hospital, it’s a bit like a five star hotel,” he said.
“It appears, from what I have seen, to be very relaxing.”
Anaesthetist Jo Adelaine works at NBT, but underwent partial knee replacement surgery at the centre before working inside the building.
“I did a walkaround when the centre was being built, and it looked pretty impressive then, but it’s a thousand times better now that we are in here,” she said.
“The building is beautiful and the kit inside the building is great. It is fantastic that X-ray is right by the ward for post-op scanning. All the nurses and healthcare assistants here have been amazing, they can’t do enough for you.”
The move into the new ward was led by Sister Helen Jones (pictured below), who also brought the first patient into the Brunel building when it opened in 2014.
“It’s really exciting to have been involved in the creation of the new Bristol Surgical Centre,” she said.
“As a team we have been involved with the design of the rooms, considering what a patient will need before and after recovery and it is lovely to now see it open.”
Maria Kane, CEO Bristol NHS Group - the partnership between the two Bristol hospital trusts - said: “We are so proud to be offering surgery in this fantastic new facility to benefit local patients.
“This centre significantly increases our surgical capacity so that we can see more of our patients sooner and demonstrates what we can achieve by working together across Bristol and Weston.”
Professor Tim Whittlestone, Bristol NHS Group Chief Medical and Innovation Officer, added: “Improving the care of patients across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire is a fundamental part of our Joint Clinical Strategy and it is great to see it coming to fruition through the additional capacity created by The Princess Royal Bristol Surgical Centre.”
David Jarrett, Chief Delivery Officer at NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, said: "It’s fantastic to see the new surgical centre open and already making a difference. For local people, it means shorter waits for treatment and a much smoother experience of care. This is an important step in our ongoing commitment to provide high-quality, sustainable services that improve the health and wellbeing of our communities."