MOBILE HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
The exterior of a Mobile Day Surgery Unit, and the high quality care environment within.
was supplied with a five-person nursing team, which fully integrated with and supported Conquest Hospital’s own clinicians. Before it was integrated into the hospital estate, a site planning service was completed to identify an optimal location, and assist the Estates team to prepare for its delivery.
Pre-deployment planning also took place – as always – between Vanguard Healthcare’s dedicated logistics team and the Trust to ensure the smooth running of the service from day one. Full training and induction is provided to all staff working on such units to ensure full integration, and on-demand support from a dedicated account manager is available throughout the contract’s duration. A comprehensive management support package is also maintained, which includes, alongside the support from a dedicated account manager, ongoing analysis and detailed reporting. Specialist engineers are also on hand should any technical problems arise,
providing immediate strategic and tactical review of any problems that arise. The availability of technical support gives a Trust’s estates and clinical staff the peace of mind to focus on getting the most from the additional capacity and providing exceptional care.
Additional capacity to avoid cancellations
Senior doctors have expressed concerns about the number of patients having their operations cancelled amid the pressure facing the NHS. In November 2016, the 62-day target for treatment to start was missed; 83.5% of patients were treated within this timeframe instead of the target 85%. Richard Murray, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said that cancellations ‘reflect capacity problems in the NHS’.
With more patients arriving at hospitals, and timely discharges often unavailable, there simply aren’t always enough beds.
Yet cancellations are detrimental not only to the hospital, which faces operational challenges, and clinicians forced to make tough decisions on who is who is prioritised for treatment, but also to patients and their families, who experience distress and anxiety as they are faced with uncertainty and potential delay. Mobile healthcare facilities can assist NHS Trusts to establish operational resilience; when hospital waiting lists grow due to poor flow, leading to elective cancellations, mobile facilities can be used to improve access to match the increased level of demand.
Effective forward planning Mobile facilities can also be utilised to proactively manage capacity, and establish contingencies to ensure that service is effectively maintained. Over the last three years, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has embraced flexible infrastructure to
March 2017 Health Estate Journal 35
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