Work has started on a £400,000 refurbishment of Airedale Hospital’s pathology department.

The scheme, to produce extra space to deal with a soaring workload, is being carried out in several phases and should be complete by August.

The new layout will separate the laboratories from administrative areas, and there will be a waiting area for visitors.

A helpline service will be provided near the entrance and there will be offices for managers and consultants. Room is being allowed for more equipment in the future as the department’s workload continues to rise – it has increased by about ten per cent in the past year.

And the laboratory area is being extended.

Anne Crabtree, pathology operational manager at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are reconfiguring the department to allow us to make the best use of available space and cope with the increase in workload, as more GPs are sending blood samples to us due to our rapid turnaround times and overall quality of service.

“It should also allow us to continue to invest in more sophisticated equipment which will speed up our processes so that we can provide results even more quickly.”

The team is also getting a new computer system, which will start to be phased in next month. Visitors and staff are being urged to take care around the department while the building work is taking place.