AN ingenious hospital unit which reduces the length of time patients are waiting for surgery has been honoured with an award.
The post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at Halton Hospital has been recognised for ‘continuous improvement’ in the recent Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership Professional Pride Awards.
The unit opened in the Captain Sir Tom Moore Building in January 2021 to enable the Halton site to become a ‘green pathway’ for elective surgery.
It increased the number of patients who could be safely managed there while Warrington Hospital cared for patients with coronavirus.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, patients requiring elective surgery who were deemed to have a greater preoperative risk were booked for a postoperative critical care bed at Warrington Hospital.
This bed was not guaranteed depending on critical care occupancy and dependency, and often led to late cancellation of procedures.
During the pandemic and the increased pressure on critical care beds, it was imperative that an alternative to critical care was available to provide a safe level of care for this cohort of patients and facilitate the trust’s elective recovery plan – something which the PACU enabled.
More than 600 patients have had their surgery at Halton since the PACU opened, even if they have not needed admission to it, which has resulted in a significant reduction in elective demand for critical care and patient cancellations.
The unit utilises the skills of critical care nurses who were unable to work within critical care during the pandemic due to underlying health conditions.
These staff became the core team and were complemented by theatre and surgical nurses.
On winning the award, PACU manager Claire Grice said: “I was really surprised as we have only been open just over a year, and it means so much to the whole team as it was voted for by peers across the region.
“The award has highlighted the importance of having a service like the PACU, which has enabled many of our patients to have their surgery at our Halton site, reducing their waiting times.
“Waiting for surgery can be a very anxious and stressful time, and often for our patients the quality of life can be impacted.
“By introducing post operative anaesthesia care here at Halton, we have been able to support reduction in waiting times.
“We are very proud of what we have developed here, and the success of the service now and in the future is down to the whole team involved.”
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