A Vanguard-supplied mobile operating theatre and adjoining ward deployed at an outreach facility at Harrow’s Northwick Park Hospital, one of the main satellite sites of London’s famous Moorfields Eye Hospital, is enabling the Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to continue treating NHS ophthalmic patients while a major refurbishment project continues to turn two floors of the building into a Moorfields day surgery centre.
Initially installed at Northwick Park to help ensure a smooth patient flow and continuation of specialist services during development of service provision between 2006 and 2011, the theatre comprises a self-contained day surgery facility, complete with operating room, anaesthetic, recovery, utility, and staff changing rooms. The Trust’s service delivery manager, Ann Arnold, elaborated: “The Vanguard theatre enabled the specialist teams and consultants to deliver continued and convenient access to treatment that we regularly carry out, without disruption to our patients. Then, in 2008, a ward unit was installed alongside the theatre, to operate in tandem for an additional three years, as a ‘satellite’ treatment centre while the refurbishment took place. Patients were admitted, prepared, operated on, received in recovery, and discharged, without requiring admission to the main Northwick Park facility, being treated and supported by Moorfields doctors and staff throughout. We’re delighted with the delivery of the units, and the support from Vanguard’s staff.”
