Three new operating theatres are a step closer at Swansea's Singleton Hospital, and recruiting the staff needed to work in them is under way. Swansea Bay University Health Board chiefs have agreed to push forward with the proposal, although a business case will need to be approved in due course.
The plan is to have the three "modular" theatres on site in 2023-24. They will focus initially on plastic surgery, general surgery, ear, nose and throat surgery, and oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Singleton Hospital currently has six theatres, but waiting lists have been stretched by the Covid pandemic and there are a huge amount of operations and procedures to get through. Darren Griffiths, the health board's director of finance and performance, said: "We need an uplift in surgical capacity."
