Patients in the Braintree and Witham area will have access to a new £1.5 million world-class centre for keyhole surgery. The Anglia Ruskin Colchester Hospital Iceni Centre will be opened at Colchester General Hospital in autumn next 2010, with construction starting in October.

The training, research and development centre for laparoscopic surgery will be built by Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust and Anglia Ruskin University. Hospital chiefs say laparoscopic surgery has advantages over traditional "open" surgery, as it involves small incisions rather than large cuts, and patients spend less time in hospital. Colchester Hospital Trust chief executive Peter Murphy said: "Surgeons at Colchester General Hospital help to pioneer the use of laparoscopic surgery in the UK and have built up an international reputation for their work. "The new training and research and development centre, which we are developing with Anglia Ruskin University, will help share the skills our surgeons have built up to bring the many advantages of laparoscopic surgery to more patients - in Colchester, across the UK and around the world."

Professor Michael Thorne, vice-chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University, added: "The Iceni Centre will build on our long-established relationship with Colchester Hospital Trust. It will enable laparoscopy training to be delivered with a truly international reach and for new technologies to be developed in conjunction with private and public sector partners.The Iceni Centre will help to address the huge national shortage of laparoscopic surgeons in the UK - and abroad - which will result in more patients receiving the many benefits of this type of surgery."

The centre will have lecture theatres and seminar rooms equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and computers for simulating surgery and demonstrating operations. The hospital, which has six advanced laparoscopic surgeons, was last year praised by Health Minister and laparoscopic surgeon Lord Darzi.