Milton Keynes University Hospital reports significant positive impact from the installation of a new day case facility from Vanguard Healthcare Solutions

The challenge

Over the previous year, Milton Keynes University Hospital had increased its elective activity through a number of successful initiatives. These included ‘super paediatric surgery days’ – providing dedicated days for paediatric surgery; and the introduction of ‘high-volume, low-complexity lists’, where more patients can be treated over a shorter space of time.

The new day case unit would further increase the number of patients the hospital is able to see and treat.

The plan

The new mobile facility, supplied by Vanguard Healthcare Solutions, would house both a day case theatre and a dedicated short-stay recovery ward, ensuring patients can be seen and treated in the same location, on the same day.

While not connected to the hospital, the facility is positioned close to the trust’s other surgical facilities, ensuring patient care, experience, and flow is optimised.

The solution

The Vanguard facility enables the trust to perform a range of day case, general surgery operations as well as some dental, urology, and gynaecology procedures.

The proficiency of the clinical team, also supplied by Vanguard, contributes further to this flexibility, allowing the trust to react to the most-pressing need.

The outcome

Within three months of opening, over 330 procedures had been performed in the unit.

The additional capacity allowed for greater flexibility in the main hospital theatres and the overall waiting list was reduced by around 600, including 554 long waiters.

Feedback from surgeons is that the facility provides a nicer working environment.

And patients have praised the calm atmosphere and good communication.

Dr Hamid Manji, consultant anaesthetist at the hospital, said: “It’s been a fantastic experience for everybody concerned; the surgeons and anaesthetists who have worked there, me being one, have really enjoyed the experience.

“It has taken us out of main theatres and it is a very-quiet environment, very peaceful.

“It feels very secluded, but, in some ways, it’s very good in terms of us accessing our patients and having a good patient experience.”

Emma Livesley, chief operations officer, adds: “We are delighted to be able to bring in this new facility to ensure that our patients receive the treatment they need in a timely manner.

“We recognise patients are waiting longer than we would like and this is one of several ways in which we are reducing those waiting times, improving both the care and experience that our patients receive.”