The Cromer and District Hospital has opened the doors to its new ward, which will be renovated and reopened in 2019.
Last night former patients and residents, as well as local town and district councillors, visited the site at Cromer Hospital to raise their concerns and learn more about the plans for the new development.
The district hospital has confirmed that the new building beside the Renal Ward will be used as a Medical and Cancer unit.
'We've decided that the new wing will be used for cancer patients and chemotherapy treatment as we saw what the demand was for in the region, and we calculated from there how best to use this space,' said the hospital's operational manager Iain Young.
The unit will serve around 10,000 new patients a year, and will free up space in the central hospital so that a further 600 surgical procedures a year can be carried out in dermatology, urology, vascular surgery and pain management.
The project will cost £1.8 million to complete, and will house six treatment chairs, as well as enabling an additional 2,000 chemotherapy treatments each year.
There will also be space for three new clinic rooms and two new minor procedure rooms.
'There will be opportunities for hospital focus groups and the Friends of Cromer Hospital to get involved in the plans,' confirmed Janice Bradfield, senior communications officer for the N&N NHS Foundation Trust.
'The treatment chairs will look out over the garden at the back of the ward,' said Mr Youngs. 'And we'll be working closely with the community so that patients will have a nice outlook whilst they are receiving medical treatment.'
These treatment chairs will be used for chemotherapy, as well as for haemotology, rheumatology, oncology, and urology treatments.
This day unit will be open Monday to Friday, between 8.30am and 5.30pm.
The outpatient area compromising of clinic and procedure rooms will also serve patients in need of clinical nurse specialist treatment, Ear Nose and Throat clinics, and general surgeries.
There will also be further improvements to antenatal clinics, and a specialised vulnerable women clinic.
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