Two new state-of-the-art theatres open at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
The completion of Theatres three and four marks a significant milestone in establishing a flagship service, Image Guided Interventional Surgery (IGIS), at our hospitals.
Theatre four has been fully refurbished and extended to incorporate an Interventional Radiology (IR) theatre enabling the Vascular team to perform procedures using live camera images to guide the procedure. This means the surgeon will no longer have to make a large, open cut and instead can perform surgery via a small ‘keyhole’, which means the patient heals and recovers more quickly. This also reduces the risk to the patient, the amount of time the person needs to stay in the hospital and their recovery time.
A new canopy has been installed meaning that Theatre Four will benefit from an ultra-clean environment created by this ventilation system, which is designed to deliver up to 500 air changes an hour, which is aimed at protecting the wound site from Surgical Site Infections.
Theatre three also incorporates the new canopy providing the same ultra-clean environment. This theatre will be used more generally across a number of specialities including, but not exclusive to Upper Gastrointestinal, Colorectal, Urology, Breast Cancer and Maxillofacial. Both of these theatres are fully lead-lined making it suitable for X-ray cases to be undertaken in a safe and protected setting.
Under the IGIS programme the Hospitals Trust is bringing together staff and resources to establish a 24/7 hub for IGIS, comprising interventional radiology, vascular surgery and interventional cardiology at GRH. A satellite IGIS service will operate from CGH, with an interventional surgery suite supporting some elective work alongside urology and cancer image-guided surgery.
The newly refurbished theatres will be maintained by NHS Gloucestershire Managed Services.