Fairfield General Hospital, Bury

The need 

The Greater Manchester Provider Federation Board identified the need for additional support in delivering endoscopy services across Greater Manchester after the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Greater Manchester Elective Reform Programme brings health providers across the region together to ensure patients’ needs are being met. We were commissioned to design a bespoke endoscopy facility to meet the Alliance’s specific needs. 

The plan

The plan was to create an additional modular endoscopy suite, separate from the main hospital building, with a laminar flow theatre plus two procedure rooms, seamlessly integrated with a further multi-room bespoke modular building. 

The solution

As well as the two procedure rooms, the suite was constructed with a 6-bed recovery bay, 2 consulting rooms and full staff and patient facilities. We partnered with 18 Week Support to assist the Trust to staff the unit. They provided 8 specialist endoscopy nurses and 2 clinical consultants. Between them, they would deliver all patient endoscopy procedures. Reception and porter services are provided by the Trust.

The outcome

The endoscopy unit is fully operational 7 days a week performing full colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and gastroscopy procedures. Feedback from patients and staff at the unit has been very positive. 

In its first 6 months, the unit supported patients from the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. On average, each day’s list accumulates around 48 to 52 JAG points and lists are run on a single-gender basis daily. Waiting times for endoscopy procedures have reduced considerably.

The project has been such a success that the initial 6-month contract has been extended.

Our partnership with 18 Week Support

We have been delighted to work with 18 Week Support to deliver this important project and are pleased that the Healthcare Space will continue to provide essential patient care during its contract.