A brand new maternity theatre has opened at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead - and staff said the new state-of-the-art facilities were the biggest improvement in the department since the 1990s.
The new theatre - designed in a modular fashion by ModuleCo and dropped into place on site via crane - will increase the hospital's capacity to carry out Caesarean sections and also make maternity safer for mothers and babies. The wholly-owned subsidiary company QE Facilities has played a key role in getting the new building in place.
The hospital trust's medical director Andy Beeby - who is also a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist - praised the new "fantastic" new theatre which he said would make the maternity team more efficient and flexible.
He told ChronicleLive: "It's a big space giving us a lot of room which is fantastic, along with air filtering which improves safety from an infection control point-of-view. This is such a good news story for the hospital. I've been working here since 1995 and this is the biggest development in maternity that we've had here in that time.
"We are delighted to see the extension of our theatre opening. This will allow us to continue to provide excellent patient care to mothers, allow safer deliveries and additional space for more surgeries to take place."
Fellow consultant Ian Aird added that the new theatre was also needed due to the rise in complex pregnancy cases seen in recent years. He said: "Obstetrics is becoming more complex for a number of reasons. For instance women are tending to have babies a little bit older, and that can increase the risk of medical problems and then the need for assistance.
"When that happens it puts more pressure on the theatre environment. Maternity services around the country are in the spotlight - nationally - and everything we do is to improve safety for mother and baby. And this is a step forward."
The new theatre will be operational before the end of August. Service line manager for obstetrics and gynaecology at the trust, Kate Hewitson added: "It is extremely exciting to see the second maternity theatre finally in operation.
"This will allow the increasing number of maternity patients requiring surgical procedures to receive care in brand new, state-of-the-art facilities alongside our existing department. A huge thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen."
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