The West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust came into being on April 1st, 1993. It serves an area of approximately 600 square miles which extends to Thetford in the north, Sudbury in the south, Newmarket to the west and Stowmarket to the east. This encompasses a population of approximately 275,000.

The West Suffolk Hospital itself was founded in 1832, moving to its new site in Hardwick Lane in 1973. It was the first of a new design of hospitals to be known as “Best Buy” hospitals. This was the first standard design to combine a compact and economical hospital to meet modern purposes.

A major extension providing facilities for elderly patients opened in 1977, the Day Surgery Unit opened in 1994, the Education Centre was completed 2003, the Eye Treatment Centre in 2004 and the new Macmillan Centre opened in 2005.

March 2006 saw the completion of a £3.4m Radiology scheme that delivered a new X-ray facility in the A&E area to aid through put of patients, a new nuclear medicine department, an additional CT scanner suite and new waiting areas. The final phase of the scheme is to provide a covered walkway to the MRI suite.

The West Suffolk Hospital has around 480 beds open at any one time.

Set in a 19-hectare parkland site on the edge of Bury St Edmunds, the hospital has scope for expansion to meet the developing health care needs of the people of west Suffolk.

Source = Trust Web-site