An outpatients department at Bradford Royal Infirmary was officially unveiled yesterday after undergoing a £530,000 makeover.

The redeveloped facilities will be used by cancer patients and patients undergoing vascular surgery and wound treatments.

The £530,000 update of facilities at outpatients west is part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's modernisation drive, in a bid to become a regional centre for both cancer and vascular services.

The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford, Councillor Peter Hill and his wife Gillian, officially opened the new facility at a ceremony attended by hospital dignitaries.

The modernisation project is the latest scheme in the Foundation Trust's capital programme and has seen the creation of a light and airy waiting area, off which are consulting rooms and a new phlebotomy testing zone with three, walled bays, designed to create more privacy for patients having blood tests.

The new vascular and wound healing facility is housed in the old medical physics workshop area and includes seven consulting rooms, three dedicated leg ulcer rooms and a new vascular treatment room.

Minor surgical procedures, such as varicose veins, can now be performed there rather than in theatre. Leg ulcer patients have their own waiting area.

Foundation Trust chairman, David Richardson added: "The new facilities will make a truly positive difference to patients, families and carers who are often going through difficult and anxious times during their visits."

  • Read the full story in Thursday's T&A