Weston Endoscopy Unit Reopens after £1.5 facelift!

The department at Weston General sees over 4000 patients every year, providing endoscopic diagnostic tests and treatments which include colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy and gastroscopy.

At a special ceremony on Friday, the Mayor, Councillor Mrs Jos Holder, met staff and toured the facilities. She thanked the staff for all their work and emphasised how important the department was to the hospital and community.

Saffron Flower is the Matron for Critical care at Weston General Hospital and has over seen the design and development of the new facilities. She said: “Endoscopy is essential to our patients who require accurate diagnosis. We had out grown the old facilities and needed to increase the space we had to provide male and female areas delivering the highest standards of privacy and dignity.

This £1.5m investment has allowed us to upgrade our decontamination facilities along with new male and female stage 1 and stage 2 recovery facilities. We are delighted with the results. We have achieved JAG accreditation, which is a national standard for Endoscopy and enables us to provide Bowelscope Screening for our local population later in the year.

James Rimmer is the Chief Executive at Weston Area Health NHS Trust. He said: “This investment shows that Weston General Hospital is continuing to improve and develop for the future; we remain ambitious and committed to proving the very best for the people of Weston and North Somerset. The staff have done a fantastic job in keeping the service going through the re development work and I’m very grateful to them for their commitment and professionalism.”

The picture above shows (left to right) Saffron Flower, Mayor Holder, Sister Mel Stringer and James Rimmer.