A new day surgery unit is being built at Singleton Hospital

Around 40 patients a week will be seen at the unit based at Singleton - the first time it has been used in Wales.

The temporary theatre is used as a short-term measure to treat day surgery patients.

Operations are carried out in the mobile unit and then patients are returned to traditional hospital wards to recover and be discharged.

Swansea NHS Trust has hired the unit, one of a fleet of 13 in use around the UK, to try to meet Welsh Assembly Government targets for waiting lists.

A new day theatre unit is currently being built at Singleton but may not come into use until the early summer.

Strategy director Andrew Bellamy said operations were carried out by the trust's own surgeons and anaesthetists.

"It is proving extremely effective as a short-term measure to help us clear waiting lists for general surgery," he said.