“Skill is fine, and genius is splendid, but the right contacts are more valuable than either."
Sir Archibald McIndoe
When the McIndoe Centre in East Grinstead was looking for a medical engineering specialist, it searched through its contacts and found the ideal partner in Medical Air Technology (MAT). Originally a burns unit established as a legacy to pioneering plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe, the McIndoe Centre has long been a centre of excellence in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. However, new owners Horder Healthcare wanted to extend the reach of the hospital and advance patient care with major investment in other specialisms, including orthopaedic surgery. MAT shared the hospital’s vision, and won the contract to install three new theatres and a six bed recovery area.
Any operating theatre designed for orthopaedics needs an ultraclean ventilation canopy (UCV) to prevent infection during surgery. From the start, the team at the McIndoe Centre wanted the new theatres to be equipped with the latest development in UCV technology – screenless canopies. MAT’s new DYNAMIC fitted the brief perfectly. The screenless DYNAMIC works without the traditional skirt or canopy around the perimeter, so there is more clear space at ceiling level and pendants can swing easily in and out of the clean zone. The DYNAMIC uses the company’s unique ECO-flow technology to achieve an unprecedented level of performance for a screenless UCV canopy, combining controlled airflow with energy efficiency. The sleek, streamlined design also enhances the aesthetics of the entire theatre, and facilitates hybrid and integrated functionality. Work on the new theatres, which will place the McIndoe Centre firmly at the front of innovation, technology, and surgical capability, has just begun, and is due for completion by the end of the year.
“The entire MAT team shares the excitement of bringing our newest and most advanced product to the McIndoe Centre. Installing the DYNAMIC in a facility with such a prestigious history, now owned by a company with a proven commitment to orthopaedics, makes us all very proud, and we look forward to the launch of the new theatres later this year.”
Stephen Taylor: Sales Director, MAT
Sir Archibald McIndoe is famous throughout the world for his work during World War II with badly burned airmen, or the “Guinea Pig Club” as they became known. McIndoe was a brilliant surgeon who not only developed new techniques for treating badly burned faces and hands, but also recognised the importance of rehabilitation and social reintegration back into normal life. Important work included development of the walking-stalk skin graft, and the discovery, after observing the different healing rates in pilots who had come down on land and in the sea, that immersion in saline promoted healing and improved survival rates for victims with extensive burns.