A specialist surgical unit at Trafford General Hospital is set to expand with the addition of two brand-new operating theatres, thanks to £13.8 million of funding from the NHS Targeted Improvement Fund.
The Trafford Elective Surgical Hub (TESH) offers patients across Greater Manchester the chance to have ‘routine’ elective, procedures such as hip and knee replacements in the specialist centre.
Surgical teams at Trafford General Hospital currently carry out 200 operations each week, the two new theatres will enable this to increase to 240. Having the procedures carried out in the Elective Hub means that they are not at risk of being cancelled because of emergency surgery cases.
The two new theatres will be dedicated to orthopaedic procedures, helping more patients across Greater Manchester receive the surgical care they need sooner.
“This is one of the biggest investments in Trafford General Hospital for many years, and the theatre expansion marks another important milestone in our work to reduce waiting lists and provide the very best planned surgical care for our patients.
“The investment will help us treat more people, more quickly, in facilities that are purpose-built for efficiency and high quality, safe care. Too often, planned surgery at major hospital sites has to be rescheduled because of emergency cases coming in, but because the TESH is a separate facility we can avoid that issue here. In turn, doing large numbers of these more straightforward procedures here free up our theatre teams at our other hospitals to focus on more complex cases.”
The TESH is already recognised as a leading centre for planned surgery. Earlier this year, Trafford Elective Surgical Hub was successfully accredited as an elective surgical hub delivering high standards in clinical and operational practice.
Greg Cook, Clinical Director of the TESH, welcoming the go-live of the extra theatres said: “This is great news for patients, letting our teams provide more operations to improve access times. Since the TESH was launched in October 2022, we’ve been steadily increasing the number of patients we can treat, and the range of procedures which we can offer.
“This further expansion will take us from nine theatres to 11 and will make a massive difference for the patients who rely on us to have surgical procedures that will significantly increase their quality of life.”
Mark Cubbon, Trust Chief Executive of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“This is one of the biggest investments in Trafford General Hospital for many years, and the theatre expansion marks another important milestone in our work to reduce waiting lists and provide the very best planned surgical care for our patients.
“The investment will help us treat more people, more quickly, in facilities that are purpose-built for efficiency and high quality, safe care. Too often, planned surgery at major hospital sites has to be rescheduled because of emergency cases coming in, but because the TESH is a separate facility we can avoid that issue here. In turn, doing large numbers of these more straightforward procedures here free up our theatre teams at our other hospitals to focus on more complex cases.”
The TESH is already recognised as a leading centre for planned surgery. Earlier this year, Trafford Elective Surgical Hub was successfully accredited as an elective surgical hub delivering high standards in clinical and operational practice.
This video, featuring Mr Mahdi Khalfaoui, Consultant in Trauma & Orthopaedics, showcases the new theatres at Trafford General Hospital: