A special treatment suite, based at County Hospital in Stafford, which is allowing thousands of patients to receive quicker access to day-case treatment, is celebrating its third birthday.

The Staffordshire Treatment Suite (STS), offers a range of treatments which allow patients to return home the same day.

This includes gynaecology, oral and maxillofacial surgery and vascular procedures.

The suite has four operational treatment rooms used for ambulatory and day-case procedures carried out under local anaesthetic.

Certain procedures no longer need to take place in the main theatres or certain outpatient settings as they can take place at the STS.

This has created additional capacity for more complex surgeries and appointments across the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) and helped to reduce waiting times.

Andrew Cole, theatre matron at UHNM, said: "The STS has become a really important part of how we deliver planned care at UHNM and it is fantastic to celebrate this milestone with the teams who have helped make it such a success.

"The unit gives patients a dedicated environment where they can come in, have their consultation and procedure and return home the same day.

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"It helps us treat more patients more quickly while making sure people feel safe, supported and cared for throughout their visit.

"We are incredibly proud of what colleagues have achieved over the last three years.

"Operating an ambulatory treatment unit was something completely new for many of our theatre teams and staff have worked hard to develop new skills, processes and ways of working to make the service what it is today.

"It has been a real whole-team effort involving clinical teams as well as support services including HSDU, Estates and Clinical Technology, who all play an important role in keeping the unit running safely and smoothly every day."