St Albans City Hospital is to be given a £1 million boost.

The money will be spent on the hospital's dedicated day surgery unit - which last year had more than 12,000 operations performed there.

The investment, agreed by the board for West Herts' three hospitals this month, will be split into two elements.

£700,000 will being spent to move and upgrade the ward where patients are cared for after their surgery.

This includes opening a number of high dependency beds, which means the unit can treat a greater number of patients, including patients with conditions that previously could not be catered for.

Work on this phase is underway and is due to be completed by June.

In addition, £200,000 will be spent on building a new centralised admissions lounge where patients go prior to having their day surgery.

This includes pre-assessment clinics, which help reduce the number of cancelled operations, with work is due to start in May.

The day surgery unit allows patients to be admitted to hospital for surgery or a procedure and be discharged home on the same day.

It's for patients who do not need to stay overnight and aims to make the surgery more convenient for them.

Dr Mike van der Watt, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust medical director, said: "St Albans Hospital is the official home of day surgery at our hospitals and we receive great feedback from our patients about the care and support they receive there.

"This new investment has many benefits, including speeding up the time it takes patients to be seen and be operated on. Patients will also be looked after in a more modern environment.

"We will also be able to expand the number of patients we can treat on a day-case basis, which will help take the pressure off our other hospitals, in particular Watford."

Anne Main, MP for St Albans, said: "The people of St Albans are very proud of our hospital and the day surgery unit has an excellent reputation.

"It is great to see the unit being improved and expanded in this way. I think this shows a real confidence in the future of our health service in St Albans and I very much welcome this investment."