THIS is what a Newport hospital's new £1.5 million physiotherapy unit will look like.

The new unit is to be built at St Joseph's Hospital in Malpas, after the plans were approved by Newport city council this week.

HolderMathias architects, who are acting on behalf of the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy, announced they had been granted planning permission for the scheme.

Peter Gamble, from HolderMathias, said: "We have, for some time been involved with the hospital to help it keep pace with changes in technology and healthcare practices.

"This new facility will also allow us to upgrade facilities within the existing hospital buildings, a welcome improvement for the well-being of patients and staff."

The extension building will house treatment rooms, a gym and hydrotherapy unit as well as administrative facilities.

Newport's only private hospital is run by the Sisters of St Joseph of Annecy and hosts surgery in the fields of orthopaedics, gynaecology, plastics, general surgery, ear, nose and throat, urology, opthamology and paediatrics. It also runs an endoscopy unit.

About 3,000 inpatients and 20,000 out patients pass through the hospital door each year. The hospital also employs over 200 staff.

A previous application submitted earlier in the year was refused as it involved the cutting down of several trees, but the amended plans were passed unopposed.

St Anne's Hospice, which is attached to St Joseph's Hospital in Harding Avenue, offers care and support to patients with life-threatening illnesses. People from all over Gwent are treated, free of charge, in the area's only in-patient hospice, which is highly regarded for the standards of round-the-clock acute care it provides for patients.