PATIENTS waiting for endoscopy services at Torbay Hospital should be looking at shorter lists thanks to a £4.99million investment.

Endoscopy services at the hospital are receiving a cash boost to increase capacity and help reduce local waiting lists.

Announcing the investment, Mark Feeney, consultant gastroenterologist at Torbay and South Devon Trust, said: ‘We currently have three endoscopy rooms at Torbay Hospital.

‘The funding will enable us to create a fourth room and training facility, meaning we can see more people and improve their experience and outcomes.’

Endoscopy services are used to examine inside a patient’s digestive tract for conditions including cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.

Mark added: ‘Our endoscopy service currently carries out around 200 procedures each week and demand continues to grow - early detection is really important to give people the best possible outcomes.

‘Currently, we are focusing all our efforts on clearing a very large waiting list that has built up over the last two years.’

Building is scheduled to begin on site in January 2023 and is expected to take nine months.  A mobile endoscopy unit will shortly be in place to provide additional capacity and to support the safe and effective delivery of services during construction.

This is due to start receiving its first patients from September 12.