Purley War Memorial Hospital has expanded its surgical hub inside the Purley Elective Centre to help bust COVID-19 backlogs.

The new surgical hub will expand the current facilities of the Purley Elective Centre and aims to treat patients needing low complexity procedures, such as treatment for hand surgery, treatments for varicose veins and gynaecological procedures.

The hub also features new surgical theatres, short-stay wards, and diagnostic services.

Purley Elective Centre is one of 50 new surgical hubs to care for more people needing vital operations and help bust the COVID-19 backlogs.

The 50 new surgical hubs in England is backed by £1.5 billion government funding to deliver almost two million extra routine procedures across the country over the next three years.

The new centre in Croydon will create another two operating theatres to shorten waiting times and expand the services available to care for residents in the north and south of one London’s biggest boroughs.

The expansion of the Purley Elective Centre intends to free-up the Trust’s main surgical theatres at Croydon University Hospital to undertake more complex operations, including caring for patients referred from other hospitals, to maximise efforts to clear the COVID-19 backlogs.

Stella Vig, Consultant Surgeon and Clinical Director for COVID-19 Recovery at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, said: “This is fantastic news for our patients in Croydon and for our hard-working staff.

“By opening a ‘hospital within a hospital’ we were able to keep patients safe from the virus and were quickly back above 100% pre-lockdown levels for routine care.

“We know we can do more and the expansion of the Croydon and Purley Elective Centres, will help us deliver extra procedures and know that more people are getting the care they need, whilst busting the backlogs and putting the pandemic behind us.”