The £24 million centre opens its doors on 30 September and will provide thousands of additional operations and procedures, to tackle waiting list backlogs caused by the pandemic.
The purpose-built facility contains four state-of-the-art theatres, plus an admissions and recovery area, and has been specifically designed to ensure operations and procedures can be delivered efficiently.
Advances in technology and care allow a wider range of less complex procedures to be done as day cases, which means patients can return home on the same day as they have their operation.
The new centre will provide procedures for: orthopaedics, urology, general surgery, plastic surgery, neurology, pain management and some cardiology services.
This will include operations such as: cartilage and joint repairs for knees and hips, injections to manage pain, treatment for bladder and kidney problems, hernias and minor plastic surgery.
Patients offered an appointment at the centre will be carefully assessed to ensure they can be safely treated without the need for an overnight stay.
The additional capacity at the centre will also free up thousands of slots in the hospitals’ main theatres, to make way for more complicated operations.
And because the facility is ‘self-contained’, its operating theatres will not be affected by emergency patient admissions or pressures linked with winter, so appointments will rarely need to be rearranged.
Commenting on the new facility, Martin Wilson, chief operating officer at Newcastle Hospitals, said:
“Largely due to backlogs caused by the pandemic, we have too many people waiting a long time for some procedures and are absolutely determined to do all we can to tackle this.
“Our investment in this centre will allow us to provide faster access to thousands of additional operations and procedures.
“There are many benefits to day treatment, not least that people can return home as soon as it’s safe to do so, for rest and recuperation in the comfort of their own space.
“A dedicated team has worked incredibly hard to bring this together in under a year and my thanks go to everyone involved in the construction, development of how the centre will run, recruitment and training.
“And, of course, a huge warm welcome to the fantastic new team who are all ready to start working here.
“We’re very excited to start seeing our first patients on 30 September.”
The centre – located at the front of the Freeman Hospital site in High Heaton -will be available to patients from across Newcastle and the wider region, and a team of around 200 staff has been recruited to work there.
More media information from Julie Marsh on 07523 939346
Notes to editors
Construction time lapse – https://youtu.be/h0hwe4TCCTY
Key facts:
Building the day treatment centre involved 152,948 construction working hours and:
- 3,900m of pipework
- 6 air handling units (ventilation)
- 2000 x engineering valves
- 154 medical gas outlets
- 1,113m2 of hygienic cladding
- 162 internal doors
- 2,005m2 of vinyl flooring
- 88.9 tonnes of hot rolled steelwork
- 64 tonnes of cold rolled metalwork
