Construction of new theatre at Greater Manchester hospital to begin as planning permission given green light

Construction work on a brand new hospital theatre in Wigan is set to begin now planning permission has been granted.

Patients needing orthopaedic operations at Wrightington Hospital could receive faster treatment thanks to the £6.1m project. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) hope this new theatre will reduce waiting lists.

The new theatre will be complemented by the creation of additional bed capacity in a new purpose-built recovery area adjoining the theatre as part of the same scheme.

It is hoped that the increased elective capacity at Wrightington will also reduce pressure on theatre and bed capacity at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary site at Wigan. Construction on the new theatre is expected to start in the new year and is hoped to be fully operational in Autumn 2024.

WWL’s Deputy Chief Executive, Mary Fleming said: “I am delighted that we can now proceed with this build and to be able to offer more patients the excellent orthopaedic services that Wrightington is renowned for in the near future. It will enable us to carry out more procedures, making it much more convenient for patients to get the care they need and help them get back to living fuller lives, faster.”

The ambition is for around 1,200 high-volume, low complexity orthopaedic procedures per year to be carried out within the new theatre and, with orthopaedics being the largest volume elective speciality in Greater Manchester (GM), is hoped the additional capacity will aid the reduction of NHS waiting lists across the region.

Funding for the new theatre is being provided through NHS England’s Targeted Investment Fund (TIF), which is a national programme designed to increase NHS elective and diagnostic capacity in response to the rising elective backlogs resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The news follows the announcement that Wrightington Hospital received Surgical Hub accreditation by the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme, following a visit by NHS England in September 2023. The site has been nationally recognised in a range of criteria, for meeting top clinical and operational standards, and is a visible marker of excellence in how the hub is managed and for patient experience.