First images revealed as work nears completion on new £17.m Lancashire Eye Centre

Pictures have been shared of the new Lancashire Eye Centre at Chorley Hospital, which has been built after a successful bid for £17.5m from the Department of Health.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the doors will open in December and it will be able to cater for population of 1.5million.

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The new unit will provide three new theatres – two reserved for ophthalmology and a third for other procedures which do not require overnight admission - and will be in addition to current facilities at Royal Preston Hospital.

Shveta Bansal, Consultant in Ophthalmology and Clinical Director for the programme said: “I’m very excited and thrilled to see this new facility. This is something we’ve been hoping for, praying for, and working towards for the last four years, if not more, so this is a fantastic story for us.

“It will massively improve the patient experience, which is what we wanted first and foremost. The sheer size of the unit, the flow, and the way it has been designed is very much centred on the patient having a good experience.

"The highest volume of patients in a hospital is within an eye department so it is really important that we have the facilities and space that we need deliver the very best care for our patients.”

The four-storey facility has been built on a part of the site formerly occupied by a storage unit for sterilisation and decontamination, which has been relocated.