A patient room which could not fit a bed was just one of the glitches ironed out this week in time for the official opening of the new £42m Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre yesterday.

Phase two of the five-year redevelopment of the complex, in Windmill Road, Headington, Oxford, has now been completed, and 75 per cent of staff and their patients have moved into new facilities.

There are few signs that the light and airy, snail-shaped building has suffered teething problems, although construction firm Morrisons only completed some work on Monday.

NOC capital projects and site services director Frank Johnson admitted that a nursing station on one ward had to be reduced in size because it blocked access to a side room and prevented it from having a bed. Because it was a "contracting error", the trust did not incur any extra costs as a result of the mistake.

Mr Johnson said: "It's been a seven-year journey since conception and it's not been without its challenges, but patients will now see a marked improvement in their environment.

"We will be completely moved in by April and the 443 car parking spaces and landscaping will be finished in July."

The NOC is a specialist hospital treating orthopaedic patients from Oxfordshire and further afield. Its services include bone and muscle surgery, rheumatology and rehabilitation.

It now boasts an open magnetic resonance imaging scanner, the first of its kind in the world. Unlike other MRI machines, where patients have to lie in a tube, the NOC's £1.5m custom-made device is not enclosed.

Superintendent radiographer Marion Watson said: "It's very special and is a pilot machine, tailor-made for us. MRIs are difficult for patients suffering from claustrophobia, who have to be sedated, but ours has 360-degree access."

The NOC project was funded using the controversial Private Finance Initiative, with a commercial consortium funding and constructing the buildings, before acting as landlord for 30 years. As a result, the NHS will pay £6m-a-year for the buildings - half of which is a maintenance fee.

And Conservative Party leader David Cameron backed the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre's fight for more funding during a visit to the new buildings.

The Witney MP yesterday criticised Gordon Brown's Budget, claiming the Chancellor should have taken steps on Wednesday to "help the NHS".

Mr Cameron said he favoured the Payment by Results (PbR) scheme, which has threatened the NOC's future, but added that the Conservatives would improve the system if they won power.