MORE than £12m is to be spent at Scarborough General Hospital for two operating theatres and an endoscopy department.

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust's director of finance, Bernard Flynn, said the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has given the go-ahead for the schemes.

"They will be the most significant capital investments for a number of years," he said.

"The development will improve facilities and services at the hospital and enable the trust to offer our patients high-quality healthcare treatment in modern purpose-built premises."

He said that without the new theatres, the trust would have compromised patients' choice in Scarborough and the surrounding area.

"It would have left hundreds of patients unable to choose Scarborough hospital for treatment," he said.

"It is very likely that failure to go ahead with the replacement of the endoscopy department would have forced the trust to close down theatre capacity in order to ensure continued compliance with maintenance requirements."

It is hoped that work can start as soon as next month.

The SHA also gave approval for a new MRI unit and the New Opportunities Fund has offered an MRI scanner which will be housed in the unit.