Work begins on world-class laparoscopic centre in Colchester

Work has begun on a £2m project to build a world-class training and research and development centre for laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery in Colchester. Surgeons from across the UK and around the world are expected to take part in courses at the facility at Colchester General Hospital, which will include a mock operating theatre equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and computers for simulating surgery.

The Anglia Ruskin Colchester Hospital ICENI Centre will be the result of a partnership between Anglia Ruskin University and Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust is a member of our University's Postgraduate Medical Institute, which brings together all the NHS trusts in Essex. It will help to address the huge shortage of laparoscopic surgeons in the UK - and abroad - which will result in more patients receiving the many benefits of this type of surgery.

Colchester General Hospital has one of the largest and most experienced teams of laparoscopic surgeons in the NHS and helped to pioneer the use of keyhole surgery in the UK. The team has built up an international reputation for its work - both in the operating theatre and in training other laparoscopic surgeons.

The two-storey ICENI Centre, which will also include seminar rooms, a lecture theatre, an internet café and video links to other training centres in the UK and around the world, is being built on the site of an empty 1930s villa next to the Postgraduate Medical Centre at Colchester General Hospital.

Building work, which will be completed to high environmental and sustainable standards, is scheduled to finish late this year, and it is planned that the centre will run its first training courses in January 2011.

Laparoscopic surgery offers many advantages over traditional "open" surgery. Keyhole surgery involves small incisions rather than large cuts so there is less post-operative wound pain, bleeding, and risk of infection. Patients spend less time in hospital and are able to return to normal activities sooner.

The Trust's laparoscopic team is led by Professor Roger Motson, who has been a consultant at Colchester General Hospital since 1984. In 2001 he became a Professor of Surgery at Anglia Ruskin University in recognition of his national and international reputation in laparoscopic surgery.

Colchester General Hospital has the highest concentration of advanced laparoscopic surgeons in the UK and performs more procedures across more disciplines than any other hospital. For example, it is one of only two UK hospitals to offer totally laparoscopic aortic aneurysm repairs and is a designated centre of excellence for laparoscopic colorectal (bowel) surgery and laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis.

Its team of six advanced laparoscopic surgeons also collaborate with surgeons in other specialties, such as gynaecology and urology, and are involved in research. The first laparoscopic courses were held in Colchester in 1992 and currently a dozen different training courses a year are run for for surgeons and theatre staff, sometimes up to 10 times annually. Many of the delegates come to Colchester from overseas.

Because the ICENI Centre is situated on the edge of the Colchester General Hospital site, construction work will result in only a minimum of disruption to the hospital.