Health bosses roll out mobile units in bid to cut waiting lists

Published on Wednesday 18 February 2009 08:58

HEALTH chiefs have come under fire after revealing plans for a mobile operating theatre in a car park to relieve the pressure on the state-of-the-art Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The theatre, along with a separate mobile building containing eight beds, is being brought in as part of a new bid to drive down waiting lists.

But it has sparked concerns over why the extra capacity was not originally provided in the 83 million Little France hospital, which opened just seven years ago.

A planning application has been lodged for the two units, which would sit in a car park to the rear of the main hospital.

Vanguard, the providers of the facility, loan the units to health boards across the country for up to five years, and have removed 100,000 names from waiting lists in the UK over the years.

Scotland Patients Association chairwoman Margaret Watt said: "I don't understand why these are needed. When the people charged with building our future hospitals are looking at designs, why are they not creating enough space for beds?

"When people turn up for an operation they do not expect to be taken out to the car park and into a mobile unit. These things are fine for countries that don't have hospitals or possibly even rural areas, but not for our main hospitals.

"This is the kind of thing you'd welcome in Zimbabwe, but we have a right to better."

The 13-metre mobile theatre contains an operating theatre, anaesthetic room, a two-bed recovery unit and changing rooms.

The 15-metre eight-bed ward contains a toilet, eight beds or trolley spaces and a nurse station.

It is understood the mobile units will be in place for up to two months.

Labour's city council health spokeswoman Lesley Hinds said: "It is a concern that they are having to put in these temporary units to deal with the situation – you would think that they would have planned for this in the past.

"I don't think it's the most appropriate thing to have people being accommodated within mobile units, and what will the cost be?"

James McCaffrey, chief operating officer of acute services of NHS Lothian, said:

"The priority of NHS Lothian is to ensure all patients receive the best care as swiftly as possible. It means we will be able to treat the even more elective orthopaedic surgery patients more efficiently.

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The idea was also rolled out at St John's in Livingston as part of a 5m investment in 2007.