TRIBUTES have been paid to the memory of surgeon Jenny Ackroyd, who died after a long battle against cancer, with the opening of a new elective surgery centre named after her at Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Miss Ackroyd was a surgeon at the hospital for 14 years.
She pioneered day surgery at the Harlow hospital and was involved in the early planning for the new centre, for which she campaigned for many years.
Miss Ackroyd's husband, Malcolm Lennox, a surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City, formally opened the Jenny Ackroyd Centre alongside Harlow MP Bill Rammell.
Mr Lennox was joined by other family members and Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust chairman Robert Powell.
Miss Ackroyd, 54, was the main driving force behind the opening of the Alexandra Day Unit in the mid-1990s.
The new £16m wing provides 82 beds, two operating theatres, a same-day admissions facility and a pre-assessment unit.
Mr Powell said: "It's a living tribute to the memory of a tremendous personality who did so much to promote day surgery in our trust and to further the cause of women surgeons in the NHS."
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