A hospital in Swansea is planning to build more operating theatres - to help cut the backlog of people waiting for operations. Singleton Hospital in Sketty currently has six operating theatres but chiefs are now proposing to build three new ones, bringing the total number of theatres at the hospital to nine.
The planned new operating theatres are "modular" in design so they can be built quickly and more affordably than traditional builds, staff say. Swansea Bay University Health Board has been asked to approve the plans at its upcoming meeting on Thursday, May 26. The news comes after it was revealed in the last week that more than 700,000 people in Wales were waiting for planned treatment on the NHS - and you can read more about that here.
If approved, the theatres will be the latest in a number of such facilities being introduced across the region. Neath Port Talbot Hospital is set to have three new theatres to make the hospital a "centre of excellence" for orthopaedic care and Swansea's Day Surgery Unit, located opposite the main Singleton Hospital building, is also having an additional operating theatre built. For more stories about healthcare in Wales, go here. And you can get the latest top stories from Swansea delivered directly to your inbox with our newsletter.
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The existing operating theatres at Swansea's Singleton Hospital are used for procedures in gynaecology, ophthalmology, colorectal, general surgery, planned obstetric case, breast surgery, orthopaedics and some plastic surgery. The three new theatres would provide extra opportunities for general surgery and plastic surgery as well as operations for ear, nose and throat, and oral maxillofacial surgery.
Chiefs estimate that across the three new theatres, an extra 2,190 operations would be able to take place each year. Plus, thanks to the introduction of a new four-bedded post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at Singleton Hospital, the hospital will be able to offer some surgical procedures that were only available previously in Swansea at Morriston Hospital.
Chief executive of Swansea Bay University Health Board, Mark Hackett said: "We are only too aware of the pain and discomfort being endured by people on our lists who are waiting too long for the treatments they need. We are doing all we can to increase capacity to tackle these long lists.
"Expanding our operating theatres at Singleton and Neath Port Talbot will be important steps forward. This is in-line with our strategic Changing for the Future plans to improve both unscheduled and planned care, and develop each of our three main hospitals as centres of excellence." You can read more stories about Swansea here.
The proposal for the new operating theatres come under Swansea Bay University Health Board's "Changing for the Future" plans, which aim to make Singleton Hospital a "centre of excellence" for planned care, cancer care and diagnostics. The plans also lay out ways for Morriston Hospital to become a "centre of excellence" for urgent and emergency care and for specialist care and regional surgical services for Swansea Bay, including complex medical interventions. Neath Port Talbot Hospital will also become a "centre of excellence" for orthopaedic and spinal care, diagnostics, rehabilitation and rheumatology.
A statement from Swansea Bay University Health Board adds: "By concentrating different skills, resources and specialisms on each site, each hospital will become a ‘powerhouse’ for these services, providing specialist treatments to a higher standard."
