Yesterday, I visited Stepping Hill Hospital’s new medical and surgical wards to see the improved facilities for patients.

I met Adrian Belton, the new Chair of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hospital and spoke to doctors and nurses as I was shown around the new patient areas.

The new £17 million medical and surgical centre opened on the Stepping Hill Hospital site in October 2016. It includes an acute medical unit where over 1,000 seriously ill patients are transferred to from the A&E department every month. The centre also includes new state-of-the-art operating theatres, following the decision to make Stepping Hill Hospital one of four specialist centres in Greater Manchester for high risk general surgery. Around 2,500 operations are carried out on the hospital site every month.

The new medical and surgical facilities replaced older wards and have meant a significantly improved environment for patients.

It was great to speak to Adrian Belton about his new role as Chair, and to visit the new wards at Stepping Hill Hospital. There is now widespread consensus that a hospital's physical environment can have a big effect on patient outcomes and recovery times, as well an impact on the wellbeing and productivity of healthcare staff themselves. So it was great to see and hear about the positive impact that these new wards are already having, alongside the developments in treatment and care.