Full details have been revealed of the new £29m cardiac centre at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, which will treat 2,000 extra patients each year.

The project will provide state-of-the-art facilities for heart patients and create more than 200 jobs. The centre is due to open in January.

The Oxford Heart Centre is being built as an extension to the existing cardiac facilities at the hospital.

The latest survey by the NHS watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, showed heart surgeons at the hospital are performing well.

Belinda Boulton, directorate manager of Oxford Heart Centre, said: "There is no doubt the new centre will save lives.

"The people of Oxfordshire are extremely fortunate to have these kind of facilities on their doorstep. The centre will need 200 new posts over a period of five years."

Staff now treat 20,000 patients a year for heart conditions, but the new centre will enable them to care for 2,000 more in-patients.

The total cost of the heart centre is £29.1m, with funding provided by the Department of Health and the NHS South Central region.

On Tuesday, Trevor Campbell Davis, the chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, representatives of the trust, and construction partners HBG, will gather for a topping-out ceremony.

Ms Boulton explained how the new facilities would help patients.

She said: "If a patient in Banbury suffers chest pains, paramedics will carry out tests and, if necessary, he or she will be brought straight to the heart centre for angioplasty, where a balloon is fitted to keep the coronary artery open - that will be a 24-hour service.

"We will work closely with staff at the Children's Hospital for paediatric patients - strategically the new centre is very well situated."

Jacquie Pearce-Jervis, a spokesman for the ORH trust's Patient Focus Group, said: "It's very exciting news and the Oxford Heart Centre will be one of the leading centres in the country."

The new centre is the latest multi-million-pound investment at the Headington site.

Last year, the £30m Children's Hospital opened as part of the £130m West Wing complex.

The ORH trust is also investing £109m to create a new cancer centre at the Churchill Hospital, which is due to open in September.

Two years ago, the Healthcare Commission wound up an inquiry into heart surgery at the John Radcliffe, after survival rates showed no cause for alarm.

The investigation was based on information showing higher than average death rates for coronary bypass operations, but the trust said the inquiry was based on "spurious" figures.

Staff argued the supposedly high mortality rates had been taken from statistics which were not risk adjusted, to take into account factors like each patient's own chance of survival, based on illness or age.

The latest Healthcare Commission heart surgery survey showed surgeons at the trust were performing better than expected for the aortic valve replacement procedure, and as expected in other cases.

In 2006-7, they carried out 783 operations and there was a survival rate of 96.1 per cent.

Trust spokesman Helen Peggs said: "We deal with some of the most complex cardiac cases in the region and we're dealing with very sick patients.

"These results show we do it well."