Three new operating theatres for orthopaedic and spinal procedures have opened at Neath Port Talbot Hospital and patients are already going under the knife. The theatres are expected to make a dent in long waiting lists in Swansea Bay for things like hip, shoulder and back surgery which lengthened further during the coronavirus pandemic.
The operations have started and while Swansea Bay University Health Board is still recruiting staff to work in the complex it said recruitment has gone better then expected. The building also comprises five pre-assessment rooms, accommodation for staff to change, rest rooms and a seminar room.
Orthopaedic consultant surgeon and clinical adviser to the project, Paul Williams, said: "The three new theatres have been built quickly and efficiently to meet the exacting standards of modern day orthopaedic and spinal surgery." They will, he said, allow some complex spinal surgery to take place away from the under-pressure acute hospital at Morriston, Swansea. He added that waiting times in the area remained too long and that patients came to harm as a result.
The health board said the £21 million investment was another step in Neath Port Talbot Hospital, Morriston Hospital and Singleton Hospital becoming centres of excellence in specific areas. Neath Port Talbot Hospital will specialise in orthopaedics, spinal care and urology.
Unscheduled care pressures reduced the capacity for planned operations at Morriston Hospital for several years, meaning longer waits for patients. The situation deteriorated further in 2019, then further still during the Covid pandemic, which hit in March 2020.
Orthopaedic and spinal waiting lists in Swansea Bay, which comprises Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, continue to be the highest in Wales. Waiting lists for hip and knee replacements were 668 days and 779 days respectively in 2021-22, said a report by BBC Wales last week.
The maximum capacity of the new operating theatres is an additional 3,000 or so operations per year, and the health board has submitted a funding bid to the Welsh Government to enable them to fulfil their potential. This could result in patients from further afield in South West Wales being treated there.
More complex orthopaedic and spinal procedures will be carried out at Morriston Hospital. The new theatres were opened by the Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan. A health board spokesman told BBC Wales: "The ultimate aim is to ensure that by April 2024, we are in a position where no-one has to wait more than two years for treatment."
Read next:
- Troubled Welsh health board Betsi Cadwaladr struggles to find new chief executive
- Efforts to end 'violence and aggression' in a new pupil referral unit have failed, councillors have been told
- Two arrests and 20 vehicles seized after ride-out to remember teenagers killed in Ely crash
- 'It'll rip the heart out of our town' - people react to impending closure of Porthcawl's iconic funfair
Check the weather for your area:
