NEW OPERATING THEATRE IMPROVES SERVICES AT HOSPITAL

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As part of the Hospital Refurbishment Project, the Operating Theatre of the General Hospital, Jamestown, has been given a complete upgrade, bringing the service in line with UK standards and enhancing the experience of patients.

Theatre Sister, Louise Maclean, said:

“The previous Operating Theatre has served the Hospital for many years, but was old and outdated. The new theatre has been purpose-built and the space, layout and equipment will ensure that our practices and the experience of patients is not only maintained, but improved.”

 

The new Operating Theatre has now been in use for two weeks, and last week the first baby was delivered by the theatre team.

Along with top of the range surgical light heads (photo attached) and an integrated oxygen system, the new theatre also contains positive air pressure to keep the air pressure inside the room higher – pushing the air out to prevent contamination entering through the doors. There is also a new screen and display central panel which allows theatre staff to view images and X-rays during surgery – this will also be connected to the Hospital EMIS system to enable doctors to access patients’ notes if they need to.

The instrument washing area is equipped with a top of the range washer to clean equipment and there is also a brand new Autoclave Vacuum to sterilise equipment – exactly like that found in any UK hospital.

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Hospital Nursing Officer, Lisa Rhodes, said:

“The Hospital Refurbishment Project is bringing services at the General Hospital up to date – we have an international Airport so we should have an international quality hospital.

“We’ve jumped about 40 years with development here and everything in the new Operating Theatre is meeting UK standards.

“We now have equipment to make surgeries easier and this room is bigger, allowing us to do some surgeries which we couldn’t do in the old theatre. We’ll also be able to operate more quickly – meaning less anaesthetic and lower risk to the patient.”

Louise concluded:

“We’ve had excellent feedback and the staff should be really proud of themselves because they’ve done really well and embraced new learning.”

In addition to the new Operating Theatre, the General Hospital now has a genuine Emergency Department, a new lift and brand new beds – among other much needed equipment.

The new Radiology Suite, which has been in use since February 2016, is now equipped with a CT scanner which has completed 44 scans to date (photo attached).

The new X-Ray Suite means that the Hospital can now do much better quality X-Rays – providing high quality images and making it easier for patients to position themselves and for staff to take images. The images can be e-mailed overseas in a specialised digital medical format for evaluation.

SHG

29 April 2016

 

 

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