True day surgery is the admission of a patient to hospital for a planned surgical procedure requiring full operating theatre facilities and/or a general anesthetic, who returns home on the same day. In other words they are cases which would not be considered as traditional outpatient activity allowing patients to recover in their own homes.
In the UK, this type of surgery has been one of the key strategies used to modernise the NHS – addressing the need to reduce waiting times, improve cost efficiency, and most importantly make health services more patient centered.
In response to this need, Anetic Aid worked extensively with clinicians and patients to develop the pioneering QA4 Day Surgery System – a mobile operating system that combines the manoeuvrability of a trolley with the key attributes of an operating table.
In a traditional operating scenario, a patient would be admitted to a ward where they would get into a bed – before being transferred to a trolley to be wheeled into the operating theatre and transferred to the operating table. After the operation, the whole process would be reversed – meaning the patient would need to be transferred between equipment four times.
Both the QA4-P and a lighter manual version, the QA4-M remove the need for any such physical transfer of the patient.- and they are ideal for a wide range of day surgery procedures from Gynaecology, Urology, Endoscopy to Orthopaedics, Ophthalmic, Dental and Ear Nose and Throat (E.N.T)
Guy Schofield, Managing Director of the company’s manufacturing operation in Portsmouth explained: “One of the most important of factors to consider is access – both for the surgeon and for X-ray imaging. In designing our most recent powered model of the QA4 Surgery Trolley System, where hand-held power controls offer a full range of adjustable positions, we have a traversing top giving 100% C-arm access.
“This was easily the most difficult thing to achieve in engineering terms, and we are particularly pleased with the results because the equipment offers complete stability for a patient weighing up to 250 kilos – even when the top is fully extended.”
Day surgery offers a wide range of benefits. It allows patients to receive the appropriate treatment and be able to recover in their own homes. Cancellation of surgery due to emergency pressures in a dedicated day surgery unit is unlikely and the risk of hospital acquired infection is reduced. For clinicians it means they are able to provide high quality care for appropriate patients, releasing inpatient beds for more major cases and improve the throughput of patients and reduce waiting lists in hospitals.
Anetic Aid’s full range of trolley systems and tourniquets, which are all designed, developed and manufactured in the UK, were recently showcased at Arab Health 2010; the largest healthcare exhibition in the Middle East.