The emergency department at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage is set to undergo a £15 million revamp by the end of the year.

A new entrance, more efficient triage facilities, better access to x-ray services and more capacity in assessment areas are all planned as part of the development.

There will also be a dedicated space for the ‘increasing number’ of patients who arrive at the department in need of mental health support.

The plans were highlighted to the annual general meeting of the East and North Herts NHS Trust on Wednesday, June 30, by chief operating officer Julie Anne Smith – who said the changes would "transform patients services".

She also highlighted plans for more cubicles in the children’s emergency department - so more children requiring urgent are can be seen - as well as a dedicated space for minor injuries.

She signalled ‘significant’ plans to improve physical spaces - including ward areas, which will lead to better utilisation of ward space and better flow.

“We have significant plans to improve our physical space, including our ward areas,” she said.

“Once completed we will see better utilisation of our ward space, better flow for patients and staff, an improved look and feel and improved digital adoption.

“This will result in improved patient care a better patient experience and improved safety and outcomes.”

During her presentation Ms Smith said that it had "not been a standard year" – but that the hospital had "risen to the challenge".

She said more had been done virtually over the last few months – and that the trust had “worked really hard” to tackle the backlog, that had built up as some services had had to pause.

But she stressed that the trust had been one of only a few that continued to deliver cancer services.

In addressing the hospital’s recovery plans, Ms Smith said: “We absolutely know that the challenges we faced and new ways of working will absolutely continue for sometime yet.

“But we are in a really strong position to continue on that recovery journey, and we remain responsive and adaptive to our patients needs.

“We are listening to our patients to find out what matters to them and we are using population health data to support service design.

“This means our services constantly evolve to meet the changing needs of our patients.”

At the East and North Herts NHS Trust AGM, chief operating officer Julie Ann also reported 345 procedures had been completed by the hospital’s robotic ‘surgeons’ over the past year.

She said: “We are really excited about the development in the hospital’s surgical robotics programme.

“This year we acquired a da Vinci Xi surgical system – so we now have two surgical robots in use within our hospitals.

“The benefit of this is potentially life-changing to our patients.

“We can carry out more efficient operations. Quicker recovery times mean we can treat patients sooner – something that has never been more vital than now due to COVID.

“We are very proud to have performed 345 robotic urological procedures between March 2020 and March 21."