A leading role for £1m theatre

The unit is part of the company’s fleet of operating theatres, recovery wards, endoscopy suites and outpatient units, all able to relocate to most places in the island of Ireland within a day if required.

“The show will be a bit like a homecoming for us,” said Mary Smallbone, Vanguard’s operations director. “Ireland was one of the early adopters of mobile healthcare technology, and in 2003 we brought a unit to the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin.”

Vanguard currently has contracts running in Belfast and County Londonderry but sees its presence at the show, where visitors will be able to tour the mobile theatre, as a springboard for further expansion.

In 2004, when a Vanguard mobile was stationed for two months at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, the then Northern Ireland Health Minister Angela Smith urged hospitals to investigate the use of mobile theatres. Mary Smallbone added: “She could see the potential for mobiles in Irish healthcare and we are now exploring that potential with healthcare providers.”