Vascular services in Hertfordshire and West Essex are to benefit from investment of over £10m to create a new ‘hybrid theatre’ at Lister Hospital in Stevenage – funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board.
Approval for the theatre is the next big step in creating a vascular network benefitting patients with disorders of the arteries, veins and lymphatics, involving vascular specialists from East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
This will include patients with poor foot circulation including those caused by diabetes, recent strokes and aneurysms as well as dialysis patients, those undergoing major procedures such as the removal of cancerous tumours like complex kidney and prostate cancers, and patients undergoing heart artery stenting as emergency for heart attacks.
A central specialist vascular surgery ‘hub’ at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage will ensure round-the-clock access to the early diagnostics, decision-making expertise and emergency procedures necessary for the successful treatment of vascular conditions. Outpatient, day surgery and minor treatments will continue at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Watford General Hospital.
As vascular services are very specialised, consolidating services and concentrating a sufficient number of procedures and specialists into a main surgery hub helps to sustain clinical expertise and improve outcomes for patients.
The funding approval includes the go-ahead for construction of a state-of-the-art hybrid theatre at Lister Hospital, due to open in late spring 2024. As a combined operating theatre and interventional radiology suite, it will allow patients to undergo complex procedures such as inserting stents using minimally invasive techniques to treat aneurysms and leg arteries, and can help reduce hospital stay and the risk of leg amputations.
Hertfordshire and West Essex vascular network clinical lead and consultant vascular surgeon Professor Sadasivam Selvakumar said:
“This is an essential service change to help us provide world-class vascular services with a modern hybrid theatre, and also to maintain this crucial vascular service within Hertfordshire and West Essex.
“This will enable access to a 24/7 consultant-led vascular service with all facilities needed to provide treatments in a timely manner. We, as a multidisciplinary team, are looking forward to better caring for patients with vascular disease in the region.”
Development of the new network service began in 2017 following approval for East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust to expand and become the specialised vascular hub, supported by the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Watford General Hospital ‘spoke’ sites.
Notes to Editors
- East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust provides a wide range of acute and tertiary services from four hospitals, namely Hertford County in Hertford, Lister in Stevenage, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, Middlesex and the New QEII in Welwyn Garden City.
- West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead.
- The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.
- Contact: communications.enh-tr@nhs.net
