The $10 million refurbishment, which started on Tuesday, is the first for the Ramsay Health Care service since 2013.

Chief executive and director of clinical services Trish Thornberry said the hospital's new operating theatre would boast integrated Stryker technology.

Featuring better lights, bigger rooms and cameras that allow a surgery to be live-streamed anywhere in the world, the high-tech gear adds a major new capability to the hospital.

Project manager Nathan Wood said the new room would be like the 'Rolls-Royce of operating rooms'. "You can't really go much higher," he said.

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Dr Thornberry said the hospital needed more surgery space because its operating theatres are "at full capacity".

"There's currently a waiting list for private patients because the existing operating theatres at Tamara Private Hospital are at capacity now," she said.

"Having a new operating theatre will allow extra theatre time for our surgeons and enable patients to have their surgery here in Tamworth and not have to travel outside the region."

The boosted theatre time and updated technology will help attract new doctors to Tamworth, she said, and will mean new nurse jobs at the hospital.

The upgrade will also add the shell of a new operating theatre, an upgraded endoscopy procedure room, 10 additional recovery bays, plus a new reception and waiting area.

The redevelopment will also include a significant upgrade to the hospital's central sterile supply department.

Work is already underway on the project, which is expected to be completed before Christmas 2022.

The hospital won't add any new floorspace in the upgrade, which will involve converting existing rooms into new spaces.

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