A £2 million make-over expanding Bradford Royal Infirmary’s endoscopy services is shaping up to get more day patients through its doors.

Work by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust started back in November and the first phase of the two-stage development is now up and running, says Consultant Gastroenterologist Sarah Jowett who is overseeing the refurbishment.

The first phase has involved transforming old office space on level 2 of the hospital to make way for a new facility, complete with reception, patient waiting areas, assessment and admitting rooms, three state-of-the-art endoscopy rooms and a discharge area.

The make-over means doctors and nurses can see more patients coming through the day unit’s doors for endoscopies, procedures where the doctor passes a long, thin, flexible tube with a light and camera at one end into the patient’s body and then images of the internal organs are relayed to a television screen.

The new-look space also has a dedicated room for capsule endoscopy procedures where patients swallow a tablet with a camera inside which passes through the body taking internal pictures of the small bowel.

Dr Jowett said: “The new unit on level 2 looks wonderful and it has been fantastic to see the new environment take shape, as we transform and expand our endoscopy provision. The new facilities will consolidate our endoscopy services in one place, albeit split over two levels, for the first time. It will enable us to deal with the increased demand we are seeing as more patients require our procedures and more people are being referred for endoscopies, thanks to the success of the NHS’s bowel cancer screening programme extending its age range from 60 to 74.”

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. If it is detected at an early stage, before symptoms appear, it is easier to treat and there’s a better chance of surviving it.

Speaking about the city’s new endoscopy facilities, Dr Jowett added: “We’ll be able to conduct more endoscopies, in the new procedure rooms, and further develop our new capsule endoscopy service in a much improved environment for our patients.”

The second phase of the make-over has also started on the BRI’s former gastroenterology unit on level 3 which will mirror the new facilities already on level 2.

All the work should be finished by early autumn, doubling the number of scope rooms from three to six.

Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Conrad Beckett told the Telegraph & Argus that for staff the new facilities would bring about a larger and improved working environment.

The expansion is part of an ongoing development project at the BRI which saw a new purpose-built £2.5m decontamination unit open a year ago to support the endoscopy unit and theatres. A new plastic trauma and dressing clinic also opened earlier this year.