The first patients have been welcomed for surgery in two new state-of-the-art theatres at Grantham and District Hospital.
The £5.3m modular building includes two operating theatres, along with their associated preparation rooms, utility facilities and a six-bed recovery bay. There is also an area for staff to change and take a break.
The theatres include an ultraclean ventilation system and digital screens which allow theatre teams from United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) to access real-time patient and diagnostic information.
Vel Sakthivel, consultant orthopaedic surgeon and ULHT’s surgery division clinical director, said: “This is a very exciting project for us at ULHT which significantly strengthens our ambition to be a centre of excellence at Grantham in our planned elective surgery programme.
“Our two new theatres increase our available theatre capacity at Grantham by 50%, taking us up to six theatres. For our patients, this will support our efforts to reduce their waiting times for procedures, and also give them a better environment with state-of-the-art facilities to receive their care.”
To make the new theatres possible, the build has included:
- more than 19 miles of cabling for power, lighting and controls
- three miles of data cabling
- 1,200 metres of fire alarm cabling
- 1,000 metres of pipework
- 1,350m of medical gas pipework
The first patient to undergo a procedure in the new theatres was Elizabeth Jackman, of Navenby, who underwent a knee replacement with ULHT’s theatres team led by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Mark Rowsell on Monday 14 November 2022.
Mrs Jackman said: “I requested to have my surgery at Grantham because I’ve always found the staff to be so nice. It’s such a welcoming hospital.
“I knew building work had been taking place and now I’ve seen it, it’s great for Grantham. This is the second knee replacement I have had and I knew from my symptoms that I was likely to need surgery again. It can be very limiting when you are waiting for surgery and now I’m really looking forward to getting out walking again and keeping fit.”
Paul Matthew, director of finance and digital at ULHT, said: “This multi-million pound project represents a significant investment in services at Grantham and District Hospital. The completion of our fantastic new theatres supports a number of elements within our long term improvement plan, supporting better patient experience, improving the environment where we deliver care and developing services which are fit-for-purpose and aspiring for excellence.”
