OPERATING THEATRE TECHNOLOGY
Digitally enabled hospitals ‘are the future’
Managing director at Bender UK, Gareth Brunton, examines the advances in integrated theatre technology that are led by the need for seamless communication and sharing of data and images.
Integrated technology is fast becoming a vital part of the way that operating theatres function in modern hospitals. That advanced technology brings together the increasingly complex elements that make up today’s operating theatres to create an environment of seamless communication and functionality. Those elements may include clinical equipment, audio and video communication, environmental, ventilation, and lighting controls, and data retrieval and display systems. For Bender UK, an added dimension to this rapidly evolving equation is ensuring the resilience of the integrated operating theatre with Medical IT ‘no-fail’ critical power systems and UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) battery back-up systems. Integrated theatres must deliver optimum performance in terms of serving the needs of clinical staff and ensuring the safety of patients, and delivering this new generation of facilities requires an extraordinary level of expertise and technical knowledge, allied with meticulous project management.
Vast experience
A leader in the delivery of operating theatre upgrades and new-build projects, Bender UK has vast experience and expertise managing and co-ordinating the various elements, and working with main contractors and specialist suppliers to complete each project. The long-standing partnership between Bender UK and Merivaara has provided access to Merivaara’s OpenOR open architecture vendor-neutral Digital Image Management System. It is designed to integrate operating theatre devices, data, and image management, and to offer seamless, latency-free image routing, image capture, and video recording. Surgical imagery and information related to the patient can be efficiently stored and managed.
Recognising that within these complex projects there is no ‘one size fits all’, OpenOR is a scalable solution tailored to fit the requirements of any hospital. PACS and hospital IT systems are integrated for patient worklists, and the system is vendor-neutral, so it does not limit the
An array of screens – wall-mounted and on multi-position articulated arms – deliver comprehensive information and images to the surgical staff.
connection of image sources from other manufacturers, including third-party endoscope integration with image capture triggering.
Streaming live procedures A simple ‘plug and play’ function enables the video connection, and the OpenOR over IP-based audio and video management capability provides flexible video routing between sources and displays, allowing live procedures to be viewed and streamed outside the operating theatre to any given location.
A close-up of a Merivaara light with HD camera. Bender says that ‘the consistent green ambilite makes it easy for staff to view images and read monitors’.
development also includes a day case suite, admissions lounge, new imaging department and consultant rooms, and Casualty First – the hospital’s urgent care centre – also doubles in size. St John & St Elizabeth Hospital provides surgery, medical care, outpatient and diagnostic services for children, young people, and adults. The private hospital is unique among its peers in that it exists to fund St John’s Hospice charity, and its charitable status is based on the fact that surplus funds are used to run the hospice located within the grounds of the hospital. The inpatient, day care, and community facility provides free care to local people with end-of-life conditions, and every year it supports more than 4,500 patients and their families with free quality of life care across seven London boroughs.
St John & St Elizabeth Hospital St John and St Elizabeth Hospital in London is one of the country’s largest independent charity hospitals, and the UK’s premier private hospital. It is in the final stages of completing a new £35 million wing that incorporates six integrated theatres equipped and project managed by Bender UK. The operating theatre areas – located across two floors – include recovery areas and patient rooms, and are part of a continuing redevelopment across the hospital. The 45,000 ft2
November 2021 Health Estate Journal 63
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