Theatres manager:
Karen Shevlin
Overview
The theatres' team provides a seven-day, 24-hour service with staff in full and part-time positions and with a strong on-call commitment.
There are five dedicated cardiothoracic operating theatres at Royal Brompton Hospital and one hybrid theatre. Specialities covered include thoracic and cardiac for paediatric and adult patients, although we also perform other more general procedures such as ear, nose and throat (ENT) or general surgical cases when patients' complex cardiac medical condition means they would be best managed by our specialist cardiology or thoracic medical teams on site.
The staff within the department include:
- nurses
- operating department assistants / practitioners
- anaesthetic nurses
- perfusionists
- healthcare assistants
- porters.
Surgery performed includes:
-
robotic cardiac surgery
-
valve surgery
-
complex acquired congenital heart surgery
-
minimally invasive thoracic surgery
-
paediatric and neonatal operations
-
major thoracic and oesophageal surgery.
In conjunction with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, we also perform high-risk obstetrics (caesarean sections on our acquired congenital patient population).
The operating department is involved in the development and application of new surgical techniques and research. As a department, we are working towards:
- collaborative care methods
- improving the peri-operative experience of the patient through improved documentation and subsequent care planning.
Staff are happy to talk patients through what will happen by visiting them on the wards and we maintain close contact and communication with the ward and intensive care therapy units.
We also have a major interest in the continual development of staff and have well-established learning contracts used to develop staff in conjunction with their individual learning programmes. We have an open policy regarding student education and encourage the movement of all students with learning objectives in relation to theatres.