A private hospital in North Wales is investing \u00a3500,000 in new state-of-the-art equipment over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
Spire Yale Hospital in Wrexham is upgrading its facilities at a time when they are experiencing growing demand from self-paying patients.<\/p>\n
As part of the investment programme, a new \u00a3130,000 laminar flow clean-air system has just been installed in one of the hospital’s two main operating theatres.<\/p>\n
The 27-bed hospital, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and is part of the Spire Healthcare group, carries out 2,000 operations a year.<\/p>\n
There are also plans to buy new lasers for the urology department and a new microscope costing \u00a340,000 for ophthalmic and spinal work in the operating theatre.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, \u00a3300,000 has been set aside for new x-ray equipment which should arrive later this year.<\/p>\n
Hospital Manager Sue Jones said: “Our aim at Spire is to be world class and to do that you’ve got to invest in the business.<\/p>\n
“We have just installed the latest technology in laminar flow systems in our theatres.<\/p>\n
“The system delivers a continuous cycle of clean air flowing down over the operation site and distributed out away from the main area in theatre.<\/p>\n
“It ensures that there is a change in the air in theatre every 20 minutes and this helps to minimise any chance of infection to the patient.<\/p>\n
“It is best practice for all surgery, certainly for orthopaedic procedures and anything to aid smooth and efficient recovery in joint replacement surgery.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a brand new design state-of-the-art system which does not have a canopy so it is also a much better working environment for the surgical team.<\/p>\n
“It’s a really worthwhile investment for us, particularly as we do so much orthopaedic work – including knee and hip replacements – which accounts for around 60 per cent of our surgical activity. As far as we are concerned, it’s an essential piece of equipment.<\/p>\n
“It’s a difficult time for the NHS nationally for a number of reasons – not least because people are living longer and their expectations are rightly higher.<\/p>\n
“As a result there is a growing demand for a private provision and locally, we are experiencing increasing growth in many procedures, but particularly in orthopaedic joint replacement. A big part of our business is providing a service for patients who are paying for the treatment themselves and not just for insured patients.<\/p>\n
“They are prepared to pay for these operations rather than suffer prolonged pain.<\/p>\n
Consultant Anaesthetist Dr Neil Agnew is delighted with news of the investment programme and is particularly impressed with the new clean air system.<\/p>\n
He said:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing improvement, and should be great for providing safe surgery and anaesthesia.<\/p>\n
“The laminar flow system is a theatre module that enables us to do a variety of surgery including orthopaedic surgery which needs a very safe filtration system.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s the latest technology, changing and filtering the air to ensure that it\u2019s cleaned and purified constantly throughout the operation.\u201d<\/p>\n