Progress update for the new £28m colorectal and general surgery hub at The Royal Oldham Hospital

The next phases of the build are well underway and includes steelwork being erected to form the main basis of the structure

Work to build the new £28m colorectal and general surgery hub at The Royal Oldham Hospital is continuing.

The new development is part of the Greater Manchester Improving Specialist Care programme and will enable the Royal Oldham Hospital to operate as the hub site for high-risk and emergency general and colorectal surgery.

The next phase of the build is well underway and includes steelwork being erected to form the main basis of the structure. The steelwork will take several weeks to complete.

By the end of June 2022, additional contractor goods and materials access to the site will be opened to the rear Women and Children’s building, enabling the contractors to remove and transport materials externally. Privacy film will be applied to all surrounding windows ahead of this.

The new theatre is also progressing internally with the removal of all the existing infrastructure for the new build to commence within the existing building.

The new building has been designed by architects working alongside clinicians, operational and support staff and patients to ensure every detail is captured with patient wellbeing in mind.

The new building will have spacious patient day rooms and equipped therapy spaces, and the two new 24-bedded general surgery wards will be located on southern and western elevations to provide outward-looking views for patients, maximising natural light.

It will also house a new state-of-the-art theatre for emergency and colorectal surgery for patients who have conditions affecting the colon and rectum.

The new unit is expected to welcome its first patients in the summer of 2023.