A NEW mobile operating theatre was successfully delivered under police escort to Wharfedale Hospital in Otley on Sunday to help tackle the backlog in planned operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wharfedale Observer: Wharfedale Hospital's new mobile operating theatre

The mobile theatre will create additional operating theatre capacity to increase the number of patients that can be treated each week.

The north entrance into the hospital will be closed from Thursday, October 20 for approximately four weeks to allow for building works to create a direct corridor connection into the new mobile theatre. The corridor will be fully enclosed and provide a direct link between the hospital building and the theatre.

People are asked to enter the building via the south entrance instead, a short walk away from the car park.

After the work is completed the north entrance will reopen for use.

Wharfedale Observer: The north entrance at the top left, of the site will be closed. The south entrance is at the bottom right. There is a path all the way along the side of the hospital. The north entrance at the top left, of the site will be closed. The south entrance is at the bottom right. There is a path all the way along the side of the hospital.

A spokesperson for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Mobile theatres such as this one are specially-designed and built – and extremely high quality - clinical environments which are successfully used by hospitals throughout the world to create additional capacity for essential procedures including complex surgeries. The theatre will be directly connected to the main hospital so the patient journey will be seamless."