NOT one but two revolutionary new procedures introduced at Southampton General Hospital underscores again how important the unit is to the future of the NHS.

The developments also highlight, as this paper has said in the past, how important it is that we acknowledge the role the Trust plays in both the local economy and placing Southampton and the region on the map.

The new techniques are in the treatment of prostrate cancer and diabetes and seem more the world of science fiction than medicine.

In the case of tackling prostrate cancer, scientists at the Trust are freezing the cancer cells from within.

In tackling diabetes, a revolutionary device is fed into the lower intestine to battle the illness.

For the majority of people who have contact with the hospital it is as a patient or visitor.

Such matters as world-beating breakthroughs may not play large in their appreciation of the care that is on offer.

And yet such tremendous work underpins the world-class reputation that the hospital trust so rightly maintains.