Her Majesty The Queen will officially open the new Royal Papworth Hospital this afternoon (July 9).

HM The Queen will meet with staff and patients during her visit as well as seeing some of the state-of-the-art facilities at the world-leading heart and lung hospital.

She will be joined by the Duchess of Gloucester.

Since opening on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in May, more than 9,000 patients have been through the outpatients department and clinicians have carried out more than 2,000 procedures.

The visit follows the hospital receiving a royal title to become Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2017.

Professor John Wallwork, Chairman of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It will be a huge honour to welcome Her Majesty to our hospital.

"We are all very excited to show off our fantastic new building and demonstrate the amazing levels of care our patients receive.

"For us it will be lovely for our staff to have the opportunity to meet HM The Queen and explain how the work they do makes such a difference to people's lives."

Stephen Posey, chief executive at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, added: "The visit of Her Majesty will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase what we have achieved and we are all very much looking forward to the day."

The new hospital building supports Royal Papworth staff to deliver excellent care to patients suffering from heart and lung disease, and includes five operating theatres, five catheter laboratories (for non-surgical procedures) and two hybrid theatres.

There are around 300 beds for patients, including a 46-bed critical care unit, and most patients will have their own single, en-suite rooms.