THE first of a new generation of stand-alone NHS surgery centres will open next month.

Orthopaedic patients in the North-East will be the first to benefit from the luxuriously-equipped £14m surgical centre.

The main advantage will be that surgeons will be able to operate on patients without worrying about cancellations due to emergency admissions.

Only planned surgery will take place in the self-contained health service unit.

Initially, patients from Tyneside, Wearside and Northumberland will benefit from the facility, in the grounds of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

But changes to the NHS giving patients a greater choice about where they have their operations could mean that people from areas including Teesside may be tempted to travel, to reduce waiting times.

With 2,700 patients expected to be operated on next year, rising to 6,000-a-year in following years, the centre should help to further minimise rapidly reducing waiting lists.

The unit, complete with specially-commissioned art work, has impressed David Browell, a consultant general surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and director for surgery at the Gateshead trust.

"I have been to a lot of different hospitals here and abroad and this stands head and shoulders above the rest."

Mr Browell is enthusiastic about the centre's operating theatres, which he describes as "so state-of-the-art they just blow your mind".

He said: "The theatres are entirely flexible. Should we need to do another type of surgery, the equipment can easily be switched around."

Mr Browell visited a number of surgical centres in Europe and the US as part of the commissioning process for the new centre.

"Surgical centres are really common in the US. We have looked at the way they operate and tried to learn lessons," he said.

Unusually, most patients arriving for planned operations will check in on the morning of surgery rather than being admitted the night before.

It is believed that this simple change in procedures will make great savings for the NHS.

In-patients will also have their own en-suite rooms - luxury previously associated with the private sector.

A major recruiting drive means the centre is expected to be fully staffed when the first operation takes place, on September 5