More than 100 patients treated since opening of new procedure rooms at Stevenage's Lister Hospital 

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More than 100 patients have been treated at Lister Hospital's new procedure rooms since opening last month – helping to reduce waiting times for planned operations. 

The opening of the two rooms within the Treatment Centre at the Stevenage hospital mean local and regional anaesthetic, as well as low complexity procedures, can take place during the day – with no need for an overnight stay.   

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There is also a dedicated waiting room area, a six-bay admission and discharge suite, and a block room where patients are given regional anaesthetics.  

The number of procedures being carried out in these rooms has been increasing over the past month – with the installation of some new theatre lights to further accelerate the number and variety of procedures which can take place. 

These include procedures for pain management, orthopaedic hand fractures, emergency hand injury surgery such as tendon and nerve repairs, and varicose vein surgery. 

The new facilities have also freed up capacity in the hospital's main theatres, where more operations for inpatients can now be carried out.  

Ian Allen was one of the first patients to use the procedure rooms after they opened on Monday 26 September, and was in and out within a few hours. 

Speaking soon afterwards, Mr Allen, who was having a carpal tunnel procedure on his hand, said: "I had really good experience. The procedure went really well – it only took 30 minutes and I'm already on the road to recovery." 

Richard Hammond – managing director for planned care at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which runs Lister – said: "The opening of these procedure rooms is an important step forward as we continue to work hard to reduce waiting times for patients needing planned operations.  

"A big thank you to all our staff, from our clinical colleagues to our estates and facilities teams, who have made this project a reality – the new facilities are fantastic." 

A third procedure room, based at the New QEII Hospital in Welwyn Garden City, is due to open in the new year.