A bid to build a new £17m unit at a hospital where more than a thousand operations could be carried out every year has been recommended for approval.

The James Paget Hospital in Gorleston is planning to build an orthopaedic elective hub and community diagnostic centre.

The hub will be based on land at the northern end of the site, which is already home to the £15m Concept Ward, which opened last summer, and a diagnostic centre which is currently under construction.

The centre will include two theatres for elective surgery, eight treatment rooms, six clinical consultation rooms and a waiting area, as well as staff rooms and offices.

READ MORE: New diagnostic centre at hospital on coast to 'reduce patient waiting times'

When completed this summer, the hub will operate seven days a week and provide 1,400 extra theatre sessions per year.

Last year, the Department of Health and Social Care agreed funding of £17m for the new unit.

The plans will be discussed at a meeting of Great Yarmouth Borough Council's development management committee on Wednesday, March 20.

In a report prepared ahead of the meeting, planning officials are recommending that councillors approve the application.

The report states the new building will expand the available healthcare provision which can be provided on site.

"This provides a public benefit and complies with the aims of improving community facilities and supporting the expansion of the hospital," planners said.

READ MORE: MASSIVE funding boost for hospital to carry out thousands of operations

Ground works, including digging the foundations, began in December last year.

There are no objections to the plans.

The James Paget University Hospital was built in the early 1980s and its design is typical for hospitals dating from that era.

Since then, the site has seen piecemeal development.