March 2010
Spire Parkway Hospital is investing £1.4 million in state-of-the art equipment and building development so that its team of specialist consultants can offer faster diagnosis and more complex surgery.
It will become one of the few private hospitals in the Midlands to have its own Intensive Care Unit (ICU), equipped with specialist technology, staffed by doctors and nurses specially trained in caring for patients in intensive care.
Building work is well under way to create a specially-equipped unit with capacity for up to four beds for patients requiring critical care, next to the four operating theatres at the hospital.
Equipment in the new unit, expected to be launched in early summer, will include a ventilator for patients who cannot breathe for themselves and high-tech devices and screens to monitor patients’ vital signs.
A £400,000 Computerised Tomography (CT) scanner is also on track for delivery by the end of May. The scanner, which uses X-ray equipment and computer software to create pictures of the inside of the body, can help to diagnose a wide range of medical conditions.
A mobile CT scanner currently visits the site six times a month but the permanently fixed one will mean the facility is available daily to aid more rapid diagnosis.
Consultant Anaesthetist Dr Govindan Raghuraman, said: “Modern advances have developed slicker techniques, so that many people can now be treated with procedures that are less invasive and they are often able to go home soon after surgery.
“Our team of consultants are also up to date with the more complex specialist procedures developed and are trained to deal with patients who have underlying medical conditions that can complicate surgery.
“The availability of a well-equipped ICU on-site will mean that the consultants based at Spire Parkway Hospital will be able to undertake more complex operations here, knowing that if a patient needs critical care it is immediately on hand.
“We have specialist intensive care consultants, nurses and operating department practitioners already working at Spire Parkway, so we have a trained pool of staff to call on when patients need critical care following complex surgery.
“We are all delighted at the development of our new ICU facility because we will be able to offer so much more to our patients.”
Open lung surgery, more complex hip, spine, bowel, vascular operations and surgery to remove bladders are among the procedures likely to become more common at Spire Parkway Hospital with the arrival of the ICU.
The hospital already fits gastric bands as part of its specialist services for people who need to lose weight – and the development of the critical care facility will mean that it will also be able to offer gastric bypass surgery.
Will Knights, Spire Parkway Hospital Director, said: “Our hospital already has a top class reputation for the quality of our consultants, nursing staff and the comfort and cleanliness of the environment.
“For example, over the last year there have been no cases here of MRSA bacteraemia or Clostridium Difficile associated infection, which is an exemplary record.
“The development of our fixed, on-site CT scanner will provide our consultants and their patients with permanent and speedy access to this invaluable diagnosis aid – and our ICU will improve our capacity for more complex surgery.
“This is great news for our patients and for the GPs of the area, who now have an extra element of choice to offer their patients.”