New Elective Surgery Centre completed and ready for patients

11 July 2013

New Elective Surgery Centre completed and ready for patients

The Waitemata District Health Board’s project to provide public elective surgical services faster and more efficiently for its population was officially opened by Health Minister Tony Ryall today.

Just over a year after construction began, the DHB’s new Elective Surgery Centre (ESC) will welcome its first patient on Monday (July 15).

Waitemata DHB CEO Dr Dale Bramley says the new $39 million state of the art facility is designed to enhance patient flow and increase theatre productivity and use, thereby increasing access to elective surgery for people living in the district.

“We have the largest and second fastest growing population of all 20 DHBs in New Zealand,” he says, “As our population ages and expands, we are experiencing an escalating demand for acute and elective surgery across the Waitemata area.” As a dedicated elective surgery facility, the centre will significantly reduce the time patients wait for non-urgent surgery.

“The centre will be the most modern surgical facility in the country, and ESC patients will experience a far shorter journey through the public health system than they do currently,” says Dr Bramley, “In most cases, patients will need only one visit to hospital prior to surgery. They will also have greater certainty around their treatment times.” Waitemata DHB chairman Dr Lester Levy says the ESC will allow the DHB to deliver more surgeries at less cost – to the benefit of patients.

“Our aspiration for the project is to create a high quality, highly efficient and cost effective centre for fast stream elective surgical services – one where the patient is the absolute priority and which would be New Zealand’s most productive, with results better than that achieved in both private and other public hospitals in the country.” The Elective Surgery Centre’s model of care is based on a highly successful pilot conducted at Waitakere Hospital. The results of the pilot, which have been subject to extensive internal and external review – including by the University of Auckland’s Professor Toni Ashton – found that the Waitakere pilot resulted in: · reduced theatre times, enabling for 20-30% more surgeries to be performed over the same period of time · patients spending less time in hospital, as they recovered faster · savings in surgical costs · high levels of staff and patient satisfaction The Waitakere pilot recently picked up a Highly Commended prize at the 2013 IPANZ awards.

- more - ESC director Dr John Cullen says under this model, patients will be looked after by the same medical team throughout their procedure and hospital stay, which is important to long-term care and patient satisfaction.

Dr Cullen, who also led the Waitakere pilot, says one of the key aims of the ESC is to provide elective surgery at 80% of the national price (the average price for a particular procedure to be performed anywhere in New Zealand), while maintaining a high standard of care.

“The Waitakere pilot which involved a number of surgical specialties – including orthopaedic, general surgery, urology, otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and gynaecology – all achieved costs within the target 80% of national price.

“This model will allow our DHB to reduce the amount of work previously outsourced to the private sector at a higher cost, providing savings which will be invested in further elective surgery.” The Elective Surgery Centre houses four operating theatres, a post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU), a theatre sterile supply unit, 40 inpatient beds, four pre-operative consulting rooms, four outpatient consulting rooms and two pre-admission assessment rooms.

Housed on the North Shore Hospital site, the ESC will be staffed by 80 health professionals. It is expected to undertake nearly 6000 operations per year, with approximately 25% of those being additional operations.

Dr Bramley says the centre is part of a wider major facilities expansion programme that has been underway at the North Shore Hospital site for several years.

“The ESC development continues the major transformation and renaissance of our North Shore site.”

ENDS

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