5 minute read
Implementing integrated operating theatres in the NHS
from Health Business 19.2
by PSI Media
Implementing integrated operating theatres in the NHS
NHS SBS has implemented a framework that allows NHS organisations and other public sector bodies to purchase all of their audio visual requirements under the same framework, including integrated operating theatres
It is a well known fact that NHS hospitals are having to operate under extremely tight budgets. Despite the record sum announced by Prime Minister Theresa May as part of the government’s present to the NHS on the occasion of it’s 70th anniversary, which will total £20 billion a year by 2023, hospital bosses are still having to offer higher levels of care to an increasing number of people without the necessary resources.
In an ongoing attempt to improve patient care, create space in crowded A&E rooms, reduce waiting times and work with more efficiency, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are promoting the use of technology across the NHS estate. A lot of this digital advancement is taking the shape of patient technology, placing responsibility of care in the hands of the patient so that they can better monitor their own conditions, whether that be measuring blood pressure or diabetesself care. However, within the hospital building the use of audio visual technology is becoming more prominent, communicating messages for patients, scheduling and planning staff workloads, holding more effective meetings, and, in some instances, using the technology in operating theatres.
At the end of 2017 research found that NHS hospitals could carry out 280,000 more non-emergency operations a year by organising operating theatre schedules better, finding that more than two hours were wasted each day on the average operating list. The report, published by regulator NHS Improvement, said it is not a question of getting surgeons to work harder, instead, urging that planning lists more effectively and reducing late starts and early finishes would have made a big difference.
Lecture theatres
The Royal Lancaster Infirmary, part of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, uses its Education Centre venue for arange of healthcare disciplines, such as meetings, seminars, workshops, national and regional courses. The hospital planned to update the technology within the Lecture Theatre to create a better inroom experience for both the audience and presenter, including enhancing sound and image quality along with straightforward user control. Pure AV, who supplied the technology for the project, explain that the project demanded a solution to enhance the experience within the Education Centre’s Lecture Theatre and connected Seminar Room.
The room can be used as one large lecture hall or divided into two separate teaching areas. When divided the larger room has fixed raked seating, while the smaller of the two has flexible seating that can be rearranged to accommodate group working or a formal presentation layout. In both scenarios, the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust required clear displays, good quality sound reproduction and easy control.
The solution allowed the same projector to be used in the large Lecture Theatre in both room layouts without compromising on image quality with the room user triggering the automatic adjustment of the projector image with a single button press. As a result, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary now enjoy an easy to use system that enhances the experience of both room users and support staff. A similar project was undertaken at the Health Academy, based at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Another new use of audio visual technology can be found at the Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre, part of the Royal Oldham Hospital. In response to increasing demand for enhanced clinical training within The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal Oldham Hospital constructed a £600,000 Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre. Pure AV was appointed by the trust to design an audiovisual system to record and playback training activity for analysis and debriefing.
Viewing medical images
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust provides a wide range of health services to the local area, with the A&E Department dealing with approximately 75,000 patients each year, as well as an estimated 55,000 inpatient and 250,000 outpatient attendances. In 2016, the trust sought improvements and increased efficiency in the way it provided medical images when relaying patient outcomes.
The Involve Healthcare Team were chosen to deliver the improvement project, opting for three key clinical and operation rooms to be equipped with a blend of large HD displays comprising of a 2×2 configured video wall in the Multi-Disciplinary Team room and HD projectors and monitors in the other locations. Cisco video conferencing was deployed across all rooms connecting back to Involve’s N3 hosted service platform with integrated multiparty conferencing capabilities. All systems are controlled by an intuitive control system with simplicity and the users input at its heart, and a range of existing clinical systems were integrated into the design and build enabling two way content sharing of data with any external sites.
Benefiting patients
More recently, in march this year Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) began offering outpatient appointments via video, using the Virtual Clinic platform by Involve. The use of such technology will benefit patients in several ways, including mental health patients having appointments over video allowing them to remain at home, and children with
Cystic Fibrosis having an infection risk using it for interactions and the service will be used to reduce the amount of travelling time for patients. Plus, Virtual Clinic will be used by dispersed services across five sites to link the services, therefore offering collaborative care.
One of the biggest acute hospital trusts in England, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULH) has state-of-the-art Multi- Disciplinary Team rooms across multiple sites. The trust, whose vision is to provide ‘excellence in rural healthcare’, has three hospitals which need to collaborate to provide the best patient-centred care possible for more than 720,000 people. Involve’s Healthcare team consulted the trust’s ICT and Cancer Services department to redesign and upgrade three key clinical and operation rooms across the three main hospital sites. The trust saw the installation of multiple large format professional 65” HD 1080p displays in the MDT rooms and Cisco videoconferencing was deployed across all rooms, plus a host of other equipment to make a first-class MDT room.
Shared Business Services
Towards the back end of 2018, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) implemented a framework that allows NHS organisations and other public sector bodies to purchase all of their audio visual requirements under the same framework, including integrated operating theatres. Operational from the start of March, and running until February 2023, the agreement covers Integrated Operating Theatre products and solutions, audio visual products and solutions, video conferencing, patient entertainment solutions, digital signage and Check-In kiosk solutions.
A compliant procurement exercise has been already undertaken to ensure that the framework suppliers meet all key standards and requirements, saving valuable time and resources. The framework boasts of the ability to directly award a contract to approved suppliers on the framework, providing a timely and compliant route to market to meet your requirements, without having to undertake an OJEU process. There is also the opportunity to run a mini-competition to meet the bespoke requirements of each organisation as well as helping to drive further competitive pricing.
FURTHER INFORMATION
https://www.sbs.nhs.uk/fasaudio-visual-solutions
