- NHS hospital speeds surgeries
- Formula One-inspired strategy
- National impact on waitlists
An NHS hospital is completing a week’s worth of operations in a single day using a strategy inspired by Formula One to clear waiting lists.
On the weekends of each month, the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London conducts high-intensity theatre (HIT) sessions.
It entails concurrently operating two operating rooms so that the subsequent patient is sedated and brought in as soon as the previous one concludes.
According to the consultant who devised the initiative, it effectively transforms the operating room into a Formula One pit stop: “One person handles the rear right wheel, and the other handles the front left wheel.”
The strategy is anticipated to be implemented nationally to reduce England’s record backlog of 7.8 million.
Additionally, the strategy ensures that nurses are prepared to de-sanitize the operating room in under two minutes.
Impressive Outcomes
During the most recent HIT session on Saturday, one-third of the gynecological oncology waiting list at the hospital was cleared.
By midday, two teams of theatre personnel—consisting of eighteen nurses, forty anesthetists, and six surgeons—had completed twenty-one operations on twenty patients, as opposed to the six operations that were customarily completed throughout the day.
Instead of hastening or skimping, medical personnel are merely “being efficient.”
The second patient is brought in and anesthetized before the operation’s completion on the first, according to Kariem El-Boghdadly, the consultant anesthetist who initiated the initiative.
Consequently, medical professionals perform two to three times the usual number of procedures.
Patients who are diagnosed with cancer at an earlier stage than they otherwise would be may benefit from expedited treatment access. A delay in cancer diagnosis and treatment by four weeks is associated with a 10% increase in the mortality risk for patients.
St. Thomas’ plastic surgeons can operate on three months of breast cancer patients in five days because to HIT.
Furthermore, within a single day, eight patients diagnosed with prostate cancer underwent robotic-assisted prostatectomy, which involves the removal of the prostate organ. According to the medical staff, this was equivalent to a week’s worth of procedures.
Achieving More with HIT Sessions
Performing twelve knee replacements in a day instead of three to four in an NHS theatre is another accomplishment.
Even surgical teams are concluding their work ahead of schedule due to the model’s remarkable efficiency.
Ensuring Continuous Operations for Optimal Results
Dr. Kariem El-Boghdadly compared it to the discipline of auto racing, according to The Times.
“One individual is responsible for the rear right wheel, and another is assigned to the front left wheel.” It is precisely the same. “The operating room is essentially the same,” he explained.
Dr. El-Boghdadly stated that the chief surgeon “is bouncing from one operating room to the next performing the critical phase of the operation” with the assistance of junior surgeons.
“We eliminate all downtime.” He added, “We eliminate any time the operating room is devoid of a patient undergoing an operation.”
‘It’s extremely gratifying,’ consultant gynecological oncologist Gautam Mehra told the newspaper. You accomplish a great deal in a brief period with no time wasted.
“The productivity is exceptionally high.” Considerable effort is devoted to ensuring patient satisfaction and mitigating potential tension through meticulous planning. The procedure is executed with excellent efficiency while maintaining patient safety.
A Potential Solution to NHS Backlog
According to consultant anesthetist Imran Ahmad, who collaborated with Dr. El-Boghdadly to develop the approach, nationwide implementation of the model would significantly reduce the NHS backlog.
“I am always astounded by the efficiency with which we complete one of these HIT lists,” he stated.
Dr. Ahmad has reportedly deliberated the approach with NHS England and the Department of Health, according to The Times.
The NHS waiting list reached a record 7.8 million in September, up 630,000 from 2022.
Approximately 4.4 million were confined within the system when the pandemic struck the United Kingdom.
Nearly 400,000 people, many in pain, have waited at least one year, and over 200 have waited two years.
It has been mandated that the NHS eradicate all wait times exceeding one year by March 2025.
The National Health Service (NHS) was mandated to eradicate two-year waiting periods by July 2022 except for situations involving highly complex cases requiring specialized treatment, patients who opted to wait longer, or those unwilling to travel to be seen sooner.
Rishi Sunak’s Commitment to Reduce Waiting Lists
Priority number one for Rishi Sunak in 2023 was the reduction of waiting lists; he promised in January that “waiting lists will decrease and individuals will receive the necessary care more rapidly.”
However, he asserted that health service-wide disruptions were “complicating” the undertaking.
Since disruptions began in December last year, over one million appointments have been canceled.
Officials say walkouts have a greater impact because many institutions forgo operations on strike days.
Additionally, junior physicians are scheduled to recommence their 72-hour picket lines on December 20 at 7:00 a.m. They will begin a record-setting six-day strike at 7:00 a.m. on January 3.
NHS England’s Support
NHS England is funding new methods that have reduced the longest wait times for service.
An NHS representative said staff are treating more patients than before the outbreak.
The utilization of High-Intensity Theatres is one instance among numerous innovations being implemented throughout England that have contributed to this significant advancement, including surgical centers and robotic-assisted procedures.
