Rhys Hopkins, Senior Nurse - Theatres and Pre-Assessment, speaks about the Vanguard four-theatre surgical complex at Royal Glamorgan Hospital

Rhys met with Vanguard CEO, Chris Blackwell-Frost, to discuss the collaboration between Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB and Vanguard to create a mini-hospital, comprising four-theatres, two wards and an endoscopy complex, to enable continuity of care during extensive refurbishment work at Princess of Wales Hospital.

One of the four operating theatres

The eight bay ward

The six bay ward

A transcript of the conversation between Rhys and Chris:

Chris:
It's a good to see you, Rhys. So, maybe we should start by just introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about your role at the hospital.

Rhys:
My name is Rhys Hopkins, Senior Nurse for three years now, for theatres and pre-assessment in Princess of Wales Hospital.

Chris:
Well, we’re sat here at Royal Glamorgan but the real challenge is at the Princess of Wales hospital isn't it? So, do you want to talk us through the problems that you've had there?

Rhys:
Our six main theatres in the area had to be closed. They were on the top floor of the hospital and also our ophthalmology unit required some repurposing to support our colleagues in ITU.  So, that area was out of action for a while.  So, we were at one point only restricted to being able to run one emergency theatre and one day surgery theatre for urgent and cancer work out of the Richard Johnson day surgery unit.

So, that's been quite challenging and there's been a gradual increase in activity over the last couple of months we've reopened the ophthalmology unit that's being utilised slightly differently at the moment and then we were looking at other solutions as well to utilise our workforce for the main theatres team who had been displaced. So, over a period of a few months they were supporting our colleagues in Prince Charles and Royal Glamorgan hospital with their vacancies, their gaps, additional work etc things like that whilst we looked at options for some continuity until we are going to be back in a position to return to Princess Wales.

Chris:
In terms of the options that you looked at, with six theatres down, where was your initial view?

Rhys:
The care group threw everything at it and looked at all available options for us in the private sector, our colleagues in neighbouring health boards; if there was anything that we could support with there. Just looking for that additional space and capacity, a lot of areas were scoped out. A few things fell through as well and were unsustainable. Some avenues in the private sector and some avenues we pursued in other health boards. So, we focused our efforts on supporting our colleagues within the health board and then we were made aware quite early on that we were going to be looking at planning for the Vanguard theatres to be implemented in Royal Glamorgan. So, that was something that we were really excited to get our teeth into and start planning that project.

Chris:
Which is great because you keep it in the health board. You have your own teams on here, as well. Was there anything specific in the end that swung the decision towards Vanguard from the other options?

Rhys:
I think from our care group's perspective and the health board I think there always was going to be the plan for Vanguard at some point. We had some existing issues within the main theatres that needed to be rectified at some point so the critical incident did provide an opportunity to rectify some other issues as well. So, there is a silver lining to it that we've been able to carry out that work during this period in the main theatres.  So, I think Vanguard was always going to be an option for us and it was a matter of where they were going to be located and how many theatres we were going to run.

Chris:
It’s quite a big facility. I went past it this morning and there are two large wards, four theatres and the two-unit endoscopy suite as well. So, I guess, a question, were you surprised how quickly that sort of little mini hospital was built?

Rhys:
Yeah, I was very surprised how quickly they were up and running and operational. It was really impressive.

Chris:
And how do you find the facilities?

Rhys:
I think they are a fantastic set of units. I visited them previously during my time as a theatre manager. I've been up to Bristol, I've been up to the Cardiff unit when it was in place and we've always been impressed by them. As I've said those options have always been on the table for the health board to utilise, I believe. So, I had a rough idea of what they were like. The theatre teams really like the area. They’re very modern looking. There is a lot more space than you expect when you go into them as well.

Chris:
How are the staff finding working on the units and being together as well I see I guess because they've probably got a little bit dispersed.

Rhys:
They were dispersed, displaced, broken up quite a lot. It's been a very disruptive period for them. They've been very resilient through the process and really flexible to the demands and obviously understanding of the incident that's happened. You know, it's been upsetting for everybody but they've really banded together and whatever has been put in front of them they've risen to that challenge. It's very nice for us to be able to condense our team back together as well. We are still running activity in POW, so the team still supports our emergency activity there, as well, but it's nice to have our team together working in one site and have a unit as well that they can call their own.

Chris:
And we are, I think, two, maybe three weeks in, so, any view from patients at all, as well.

Rhys:
The initial feedback has been brilliant.  We've managed it via QR codes, we've managed it via telephone calls, pre and post-operatively, to the patients and they have been really complementary. It's a very fresh, new looking unit, as well, so I think that definitely shows and yeah, really, really positive.

Chris:
It's fully standalone isn't it, so what sort of procedures are you typically doing?

Rhys:
So, we've got a range of specialties in there at the moment, predominantly gynaecology, general surgery, orthopaedics… We've got some ENT neurology procedures going through the area and then we've got some more specialized lists like vascular and pain as well, that are going through the area as well, so…yeah, it's fully functional. It can support a lot of activity. It is standalone and so we need to be mindful, obviously, of our patients that are coming through, supporting them and looking at the criteria there quite closely but we're able to cater for a large group of patients that can come through the area.

Chris:
Excellent and how have you found working with Vanguard because we're really pleased to be here and supporting you.

Rhys:
Yeah, it's been really great. Really helpful all the way through the process and they've been very supportive very, very clear as well, with what we can and can't do and if there's any support that we've needed during clinical setup and on the day-to-day running of the unit, we've got our unit facilitator who’s extremely supportive and helpful. Things are rectified very quickly if we're coming across any hiccups or obstacles and it's been a really, really, helpful process.

Chris:
Well, there we go! It's good to see you and thanks for putting your trust in us we really do appreciate it.

Rhys:
Yeah, thanks very much.