John Culatto
A FIFTH operating theatre opened this week at Gibraltar’s main hospital that will be dedicated to trauma and emergency surgery.
The Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) said the new specially fitted room at St Bernard’s Hospital will allow other operating theatres to ‘operate more efficiently without an interruption’.
It said in a statement that this will ‘increase planned surgical procedures and reduce waiting times, as there will now be almost no cancellations resulting from emergency theatre use’.
People in line for orthopaedic operations will be first in line to benefit, with a 50% increase in this type of surgery.
The addition of an extra theatre will alleviate pressure on the current day surgery unit.
Plastic surgery and urology will be moved to the main theatre, leading to increased theatre time and space.
These changes aim to enhance the quality of care, including cancer pathways, and extend operating time for breast and urology surgery.
“The GHA is committed to continuing to improve service delivery as part of our Reset, Restart, Recover transformation programme,” GHA Director General, Patrick Geoghegan said.
“We listened to people’s concerns in relation to our waiting times and this additional operating theatre is aimed at taking action to increase capacity and improve our patient experience.”
Minister for Health Albert Isola said he wanted to thank the GHA for delivering this new operating theatre.
“This will substantially reduce our surgical waiting lists and add greater flexibility when scheduling elective procedures,” Isola said.
“It is great news for our patients and community as we strive to improve the speed and quality of our services.”
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