Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norfolk

The need

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust needed assistance to tackle an issue of limited physical capacity. This was due to increased demand for day-surgical procedures. The Trust acted to manage the need before it escalated into a crisis.

The Vanguard plan

Working alongside the Trust, Vanguard Healthcare Solutions developed a plan to install a mobile laminar flow theatre and a mobile ward on site.

The Vanguard solution

The two units seamlessly integrated with the main building via a specially-constructed corridor, making it almost impossible for patients to tell when they were leaving the main hospital and entering the supplementary mobile facility,

The Trust worked with Vanguard to introduce the unit to staff and patients alike. They held an open day to introduce the facility. The clinical staff who worked on site were given additional training. The Trust also briefed patients on the environment in which their procedures would take place.

The outcome

Feedback from patients was 100 positive. As a result, the facility became a central part of the Trust’s strategic approach to service reconfiguration. It also saw use as a hand trauma ward and theatre.

Clinical staff quickly came to love working in the unit, realising it provided a professional, high-tech environment in which they could carry out procedures without the normal distractions of a hospital environment.