Bradford Council has granted full planning permission for a new multi-million pound investment at St Luke’s Hospital to build a surgical day case unit to help tackle and reduce the local backlog of patients waiting for surgery.
The brand new state-of-the-art day case unit, costing almost £19m, will be separate to Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s main acute site at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) and will solely deliver planned surgery. This means it will provide additional resilience to the NHS in Bradford and help future-proof this service for local patients.
It is planned to deliver up to 5,760 operations a year and, in addition, because the majority of day cases will move to St Luke’s, this will free up capacity for an additional 1,200 operations a year for normal planned surgery and day case surgery at BRI.
It will help tackle local health inequalities while promoting the best outcomes for patients and providing new employment opportunities for local people.
The planning approval announcement marks an important step forward in the development of the new day case theatres, for which funding will be provided from NHS England’s Targeted Investment Fund (TIF).
Located on the existing St Luke’s site, the unit, which is due to be operational in April 2024, will bring together skills and expertise of staff under one roof – reducing waiting times for some of the most common procedures.
It will focus mainly on providing high volume, low complexity surgery including trauma and orthopaedics, general surgery, urology, gynaecology, plastic surgery and colorectal surgery.
These operations can be performed quickly and effectively in one place, improving quality and efficiency which will mean patients have shorter waits for surgery, will be more likely to go home on the same day.
As the day case unit, made up of two theatres running six days a week, is separate from emergency services, surgical beds are kept free for patients waiting for planned operations, reducing the risk of short-notice cancellations and improving infection control.
Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Saj Azeb, said: “Getting the green light from the planning authority sets us on our way to bringing this development to life – through both building the unit and recruiting the staff who will run it.
“It is incredibly important to make sure that local people are able to get surgery when they need it and the unit will help us deliver our vision of providing outstanding care for our communities across Bradford.
“Improving quality and efficiency will mean patients have shorter waits for surgery, leading to improved health, quality of life and ability to get back to daily activities and work.”
The new building will allow the Trust to provide a modern patient care environment. It will also help in its aim to be a champion in sustainability by using modern methods of construction and embedding new energy efficient technologies and fabrication processes.
At present, the Trust does not have any dedicated day case theatres. All surgery is carried out in the theatres on the main hospital site at BRI.
With the demand for healthcare services higher than ever, the new unit will be able to extend and expand services for the local community while also providing employment opportunities ranging from nurses to support staff including porters and cleaning services assistants.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals plays a major role within the Bradford district community and the additional capacity will allow it to provide more capacity in the local healthcare system and resilience for the local NHS.