THE first patients are due through the doors of the new diagnostic and treatment centre at Kidderminster Hospital by Christmas.

Builders Gallifords are due to hand over the former E-block at the hospital, complete with its plush new canopied entrance area, to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust at the end of October.

"This means the first patients will come through the new main entrance before Christmas," said project director David Evans.

The former main entrance and outpatient department at the hospital has been completely gutted and its old roof removed, ready for a new atrium glass roof to go on and new partitions to go up ready for the December opening.

The revamped block will include theatres, outpatients and the minor injuries unit.

The second phase of the work will then begin in the new year on B-Block, which will undergo alterations before being reopened in the late summer. It will contain short-stay, GP and maternity beds.

The long-awaited £14 million centre will help tackle waiting lists for elective surgery in the county, easing pressure on the acute hospitals at Worcester and Redditch.

In the first of a planned series of newsletters updating staff and patients on progress, Mr Evans said: "The DTC at Kidderminster will play a huge role in the local health economy to reduce the time patients wait for elective surgery. There has already been interest expressed by some neighbouring health economies who see that the DTC may present opportunities for them to reduce their waiting lists by transferring activity to Kidderminster."