Anetic Aid to highlight the concept and benefits of day surgery at MEDICA

11 Nov 2010

UK manufacturer Anetic Aid Ltd will  demonstrate the benefits of day surgery at MEDICA 2010, an approach to treatment which has transformed working practices in the UK’s NHS

In the UK, day surgery has been one of the key strategies used to modernise the NHS — addressing the need to reduce waiting times, improve cost efficiency, and most importantly make health services more patient centred.

True day surgery is the admission of a patient to hospital for a planned surgical procedure requiring full operating theatre facilities and/or a general anaesthetic, who returns home on the same day. In other words they are cases which would not be considered as traditional outpatient activity.

The benefits of this increasingly popular approach to treatment apply anywhere in the world:

  • patients receive the appropriate treatment and are able to recover in their own homes. Cancellation of surgery due to emergency pressures in a dedicated day surgery unit is unlikely and the risk of hospital acquired infection is reduced;
  • clinicians are able to provide high quality care for appropriate patients, releasing inpatient beds for more major cases;
  • hospitals improve their throughput of patients and reduce waiting lists and costs.

In response to this and with the aim of maximising the benefits, hospital equipment designers such as Anetic Aid Ltd have focused time and energy on producing equipment systems that combine the capabilities of a patient transport trolley and an operating table.

Guy Schofield, Managing Director of the company’s manufacturing operation in Portsmouth explained: “The challenge for us as manufacturers was to combine the manoeuvrability of a trolley with the key attributes of an operating table.

“One of the most important of these is access, both for the surgeon and for X-ray/ imaging. In designing our most recent powered model of the QA4 Day Surgery System, we have a traversing top giving 100% C-arm access. This was easily the most difficult thing to achieve in engineering terms, and we are particularly pleased with the results because the equipment offers complete stability for a patient weighing up to 250kg — even when the top is fully extended.”

This enhanced weight capacity is also a significant factor for lifting and handling considerations. In a traditional operating scenario, a patient would be admitted to a ward where they would get into a bed — before being transferred to a trolley to be wheeled into the operating theatre and transferred to the operating table. After the operation, the whole process would be reversed — meaning the patient would need to be transferred between equipment four times.

Both the powered QA4 (P) and a lighter manual version, the QA4 (M) remove the need for any such physical transfer of the patient.

MEDICA  is taking place on 17 - 20 November 2010 at the Messe Düsseldorf, Germany. Anetic Aid will be located in Hall 14, stand F12.

 

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