A new multi-million-pound emergency unit at Ipswich Hospital has opened and will cater for 50,000 patients annually. 

The improvement is a part of £52million redevelopment works at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which runs Ipswich Hospital.

A portion of this money was designated to paying for a new urgent treatment centre (UTC) and emergency department (ED).

It opened on Saturday and it is hoped it will help cut waiting times. 

The new centre will take over 50,000 patients annually.The new centre will take 50,000 patients annually. (Image: Archant)

Mike Meers, ESNEFT's director of digital and logistics, previously said: "It will offer a new rapid assessment treatment area where we can offload our ambulances and look at some of our same-day emergency care."

Patients who come to the hospital will be met by members of Suffolk GP Collective and hospital staff who will direct patients either to the UTC or the ED.

The UTC is based in a new two-storey building next to the Garrett Anderson building at the Heath Road site. 

It will offer treatment for a range of urgent but not life-threatening conditions.

The system aims to free up the emergency department to focus on more serious incidents.