Wednesday 04 January 2023
The de Havilland Unit opened in the PEH on 10 October 2022.
It is a 9-bed elective unit dedicated to orthopaedic surgery. These beds are ring-fenced to reduce infection rates as sharing a ward with other non-elective surgery increases the risk of infection which can be serious for orthopaedic patients and increase their length of stay.
Dr Peter Rabey, Medical Director said:
'In its first 12 weeks this unit has performed 100 joint replacements.
This is a remarkable achievement in such a short amount of time. Indeed, without the de Havilland Unit, many of these 100 would have been postponed due to significant pressure for beds in the hospital during this time.'
Zara le Page, Deputy Sister de Havilland Ward said:
'As well as the new Unit, we have developed a multi-disciplinary team (MDT) pre-assessment clinic for patients.
Patients are seen prior to admission for joint replacement surgery. At this assessment we are able to discuss the surgery and provide a significant amount of information and support to enable a smooth transition through the hospital. This MDT approach has meant that the average length of stay for joint surgery is now 2 days (compared to 6-7 days previously) - increasing the number of patients we can treat.'
