Clinical service achievements

The team behind the installation of Royal Derby Hospital's state-of-the-art hybrid theatre, which contains some of the most modern and advanced theatre equipment available, has been presented with a regional award.

The highly specialised hybrid theatre opened its doors in September last year following 10-months of complex construction and engineering works, which has seen the team crowned as winners of the Integration and Collaborative Working Award at the East Midlands Constructing Excellence Awards.

Due to its advanced equipment and design, clinicians can carry out more sophisticated and advanced vascular, surgical and cardiology procedures, often combining what would have needed two procedures into one to save patients having to be admitted to hospital on multiple occasions.

After winning the regional award, the team will now go head-to-head with winners from other areas of the country for the chance to be crowned national winners.

Nicki Nichols, Programme Director for the project, said the award is fitting recognition of the hard work from everyone involved in the process to allow the theatre to provide cutting-edge healthcare.

She said: "The construction may have taken place over 10 months, but the reality is this project has been several years in the planning and has been a huge effort from key stakeholders in a wider team. This award signifies everything our colleagues have done to help us to make this happen.

"So many different groups have been involved, including those areas that had to make changes and work flexibly during the construction period. This ranges from the consultants whose idea it was to bring this facility to Royal Derby Hospital, to the porters who helped move the equipment around the site, to the car parking attendants who help manage construction traffic and the domestic teams who continue to keep the theatres and surrounding areas clean and safe."

Planning for the theatre was extensive, from both a construction and clinical aspect, with the team leaving no stone unturned to ensure the finished article was the best it could be. Mr John Quarmby, Vascular Surgeon and Clinical Director for General Surgery and Urology, explained the lengths the clinical teams went to in their planning and how pleased he is with the result:

"Myself and other clinical colleagues visited several other hybrid theatre suites up and down the country to find out what worked well, what we liked and what we would do differently in our own theatre to create the best environment. This also extended to extending and refreshing the rest area for our wonderful theatre teams, which has been very well received.

"What that means is that we've got this incredible suite that does everything we ever dreamed it could do and it has been really well received by staff. The theatre enables us to provide the best possible care for our patients, and I'm grateful to the entire team for their commitment to making this happen and allowing us to provide this level of service to our communities."

The team worked in partnership with Galliford Try, the Trust's construction partner, to submit a comprehensive nomination, providing robust evidence of collaborative and partnership working, before having to give a presentation to a judging panel earlier this year.

After being crowned the regional winners, the project team will now go forward into the national Construction Excellence Awards at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 23 November.

Nicki added: "To have been chosen as one of the five projects to be shortlisted regionally was incredible, and the comments we received from the judging panel on the night were great to hear. To be able to showcase this amazing project and celebrate our successes on a national scale is a really exciting opportunity."