New operating theatres will tackle waiting lists
WORK has begun to build two new operating theatres at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli in a bid to tackle surgical waiting lists and ease pressures across the region.
The theatres are being built thanks to nearly £20m of Welsh Government funding and will include preparation rooms, anaesthetic rooms, changing facilities and a recovery area.
They will have capacity to run 24 operating sessions a week, covering procedures including orthopaedics, general surgery, urology, vascular and laser therapy for varicose veins.
It is hoped the additional theatres will run on a six days a week basis and be completed by March next year.
The new facilities are expected to deliver approximately 4,600 additional day case procedures over and above the volumes currently achieved during the 2021/22 operating year.
It is hoped this will help efforts to tackle the backlog of people waiting for treatment in the area after delays caused by the impact of the pandemic to planned care.
As well as benefiting patients waiting for treatment in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area, there is also an expectation there will be significant regional benefits to neighbouring Swansea Bay and Powys Health Boards.
In an effort to address concerns about staffing the new facilities, the health board is set to run a large scale recruitment campaign targeting 150 new recruits.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “This funding will benefit people who have been waiting for surgical treatment in the Hywel Dda health board area by increasing the number of day case procedures by more than 4,600 a year.
“This shows our commitment to investing in infrastructure in NHS Wales, to ensure it has sufficient resilience and capacity to care for people when they need it.
“We recently announced an investment of more than £170m in planned care and challenged health boards to develop plans about how they can transform how their services are delivered and make best use of the funding available.
“It is through investing in services and transforming how we deliver planned care that we can tackle the impacts of the pandemic on the NHS in Wales.”
Hywel Dda University Health Board executive director of strategic development and operational planning, Lee Davies, said: “The development of additional theatre capacity is a significant milestone in our Covid-19 recovery planning, and we are delighted to receive this funding from the Welsh Government to deliver the project.
“In addition to the extra day case procedures we anticipate to operate, the modular build will help maintain our planned care ‘green’ pathways in light of the wider challenges to the unscheduled care system. We look forward to working alongside our project partners to progress the scheme over the coming weeks and months.”