Luton & Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust engaged the services of Medical Air Technology Ltd to add a further 130m² Operating Theatre to increase the hospital’s capacity to undertake orthopaedic surgery. The project had to be executed, whilst guaranteeing that the existing theatres remained fully functional, and that the staff and patients were not adversely affected by the works. The price had to be competitive and the programme duration guaranteed.
MAT, acting as the Main Contractor, designed and built the new facility. The project involved demolishing and re-building an area on the 5th floor immediately adjacent to and on the end of the existing suite of operating theatres, to create a new independently ventilated orthopaedic theatre which included a MAT ‘Ultraflow’ 2.8 x 2.8m laminar flow unit.
Access was restricted as the existing theatre complex had to remain fully operational; the solution was to seal off the site of the works and install an external lift which provided entry to the site through a 5th floor window opening and the building plant area on the roof overhead. Barry Mayes, Luton & Dunstable’s Head of Communications said “having the new operating theatre will help ensure we continue to meet the Governments 18 weeks waiting time target which is a tough challenge for any hospital”.
