BUILDING work has started on a £7m endoscopy examination suite at a district hospital.

It will mean disruption for some months at Harrogate District Hospital while work is carried out to provide five procedure rooms, separate changing facilities and dedicated admission and discharge rooms.

Endoscopes provide internal examinations of the body, through a camera, and are used to help diagnose a wide range of illnesses.

Lorraine Dyson, endoscopy suite manager, said: “This work is absolutely necessary to create a new endoscopy suite for the benefit of our patients for many years into the future. The department has been designed to provide the capacity to meet the anticipated future needs of the local population.”

The work has meant the temporary closure of a main corridor through the hospital until early next year, an alternative diversion has been put into place Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the current endoscopy suite would carry on at its current location on the hospital’s ground floor and there was expected to be no impact on patient care.