A hotel is being transformed into a rehabilitation facility for hospital patients amid the current Omicron surge.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust has reconfigured the Olympic Lodge Hotel, in the grounds of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, into a temporary care facility and will welcome the first patients on January 31.

The two-storey building is for those patients who do not need a hospital bed but require further support as they prepare to return home.

The building includes single rooms and a day room where patients can socialise.

Jenny Ricketts, Director of Community Transformation for the trust, said: “When our patients no longer need to be in a hospital bed, it is better for their ongoing recovery to return to the comfort of their own home as soon as possible.

“This unit will provide a safe and suitable environment for patients to regain independence.

“It will also provide some of the extra capacity we need through the winter period.”