Theatres update - 3 July 2020

From 20 July 2020 Sherwood Forest Hospitals will be increasing its elective operating to 66% across both King’s Mill Hospital and Newark Hospital to restore capacity for cancer, urgent and ultimately elective procedures to improve patient experience and waiting times.

Patients coming in for elective surgery will be asked to isolate for 14 days prior to their surgery and will be asked to take a Covid-19 test up to 72 hours prior to their surgery. There will be full surface decontamination processes after every procedure. We hope that this will provide some assurance to patients that we are doing everything we can to keep them safe and to keep areas Covid-19 safe. We hope that with this information and steps in place it will go some way to encourage patients back to our hospital to receive the urgent care they may require.  

Patient safety is a top priority during these difficult times and the above measures are being put in place to ensure that the risk of Covid-19 is minimised as much as possible.

It is felt that this plan will help facilitate more elective operating, whilst still reacting quickly to a potential second pandemic wave, whilst having the ability to step up ITU bed capacity quickly.

Our Day Case Unit Theatres will all become elective and patients only admitted through Day Case Ward will have their procedure undertaken in this area, ensuring that it remains a Covid-19 safe area.

The Day Case Unit will be used strictly for those patients who are undergoing elective surgery and have followed the surgical Pre-Operative Pathway having isolated and received clear swabs.