One hundred patients have now been treated in Lister Hospital's new procedure rooms.

The rooms opened on September 26, and are aimed at helping to reduce waiting times for planned operations at the Stevenage hospital.

These new rooms mean that local and regional anaesthetic, as well as low-complexity procedures, can take place during the day.

This means that fewer patients require an overnight stay at the hospital.

The Comet: Less patients will now require an overnight stay, as a result of the new rooms.Less patients will now require an overnight stay, as a result of the new rooms. (Image: East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust)

A dedicated waiting room area, a six-bay admission and discharge suite, and a block room where patients are given regional anaesthetics are all included in the new development.

New theatre lights have recently been installed in the new rooms, to "further accelerate the number and variety of procedures which can take place".

Procedures which can be undertaken in the new rooms include those for pain management, orthopaedic hand fractures, emergency hand injury surgery and varicose vein surgery.

According to the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, the facilities have also freed up capacity in the hospital’s main theatres, where more operations for inpatients can now be carried out.

One of the first patients to use these new rooms, Ian Allen, 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.”

The trust's managing director, Richard Hammond, 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, to be based at Welwyn Garden City's New QEII Hospital, is due to open next year.