New operating theatres working below full capacity

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

Three new operating theatres which opened last year are still working at under full capacity due to a shortage of staff.

Swansea Bay University Health Board secured Welsh Government funding for the so-called modular operating theatres at Neath Port Talbot Hospital for planned orthopaedic and spinal cases.

They opened one after the other in June, September and November last year.

Waiting lists

The initial plan was that 2,500 to 3,000 operations would take place there each year, replacing capacity at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital – which focuses on emergency and complex cases – and tackling waiting lists which had lengthened since 2019.

Recruiting surgeons, anaesthetists and nursing staff was a key requirement. In 2021, the health board’s then chief executive, Mark Hackett, said it needed to “get the ball rolling” quickly on hiring. He said agency and “bank” staff would be used, as well as new recruits. He added: “If push comes to shove we would look at international recruitment.”

In response to a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the health board said 1,722 operations had taken place at the theatres up to the end of July this year. Because one opened before July 2023 and two opened after, it’s not possible to come up with an annual figure until 12 months after the third and final theatre opened last November.

Recruitment delays

But the health board said the figures provided fell short of the full capacity included in the business case. “This is largely due to delays in recruitment of the additional theatre staff and the extensive training plans required on their recruitment (due to being either newly qualified or overseas nurses),” it said.

In terms of staff numbers, the health board said the three theatres needed 45 full-time equivalent employees, on top of the 60 staff who worked at Neath Port Talbot Hospital’s other five theatres. The health board didn’t say if it was short at the new theatres but said there were 11 vacancies across all eight theatres as of the end of the August this year. It has previously said that recruiting anaesthetists is challenging.

Getting the three modular theatres installed and equipped cost £6.1 million, and staffing and leasing them was estimated to be around £18 million annually.

Long waits

The operations taking place there have helped the health board tackle waiting lists. A spokeswoman said: “The orthopaedic waiting list has reduced significantly and whilst we still have long waits, all patients are now waiting less than three years and we have committed to reducing that further to eradicate waits over two years by the end of March 2025.

“We are also the only health board to deliver first outpatient appointments within 52 weeks and consistently deliver imaging within the eight-week targets. All of these measures go towards improving the overall pathway waits for patients.”

Patient watchdog group, Llais, said it regularly heard from people who were waiting for orthopaedic surgery. Mwoyo Makuto, the group’s director for Neath Port Talbot and Swansea, said: “We were pleased to hear about the opening of the modular units and welcome any increased capacity to prevent delays for people waiting for care.”