A newly-installed operating theatre at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre at Epsom Hospital in South West London has been equipped with the latest integrated digital theatre technology from Bender UK and Merivaara.
The centre is ranked as one of the best facilities in the country for high-quality, efficient, elective orthopaedic services, including inpatient, daycase, and outpatient.
Performing around 5,200 procedures a year, it is also one of the largest orthopaedic centres in the UK and Europe and is a shoulder surgery specialist centre, with sub specialities in soft tissue, spine, foot, and ankle procedures.
The new operating theatre adds a sixth facility to the five theatres already in place within the unit.
A key requirement for the teaching hospital was integrated theatre communication, enabling clinical teams to interact and share videos with staff and students in an observation area referred to as ‘the fishbowl’.
At the heart of the theatre is the high-capacity Merivaara OpenOR open architecture management system, which integrates operating theatre devices, data, and image management for rapid display of surgical imagery.
The new equipment enables clinical teams to interact and share videos to an observation area
OpenOR is connected with surgical lights, monitors, and cameras within the theatre and any media related to the patient can be stored and managed through the system. including footage and snapshots from surgery.
It is a scalable solution tailored to fit the requirements of any hospital and integrates PACS and hospital systems for patient worklists and data integration.
In addition, the system is vendor neutral, so it does not limit the connection of image sources from specific manufacturers.
Video is connected via a simple plug-and-play function and IP-based audio and video management capability provides flexible video routing between sources and displays, enabling live procedures to be viewed and streamed outside the operating theatre to any given location.
Bender UK managing director, Gareth Brunton, explains: “With our background in hospital critical care power, turnkey theatre projects, and, more recently, a full clinical product capability in partnership with Merivaara, the OpenOR technology has been a natural progression for our hospital business unit team.”
Bender UK supplied theatre equipment including the new CP924 glass touchscreen theatre control panel, 24ins DICOM-compliant Bender PACS with glass fascia membrane keyboard, and two 55-inch 4K in-wall glass fascia viewing panels.
Merivaara Q-Flow LED operating lights with a wireless HD camera were also selected due to the best-in-class colour rendering and optimised airflow, with unique dynamic obstacle compensation to deliver optimum illumination to the surgical site.
The ring-within-a-ring design of the Merivaara lights ensures uninterrupted clean air flow from the canopy, an important requirement for orthopaedic surgery to help minimise the risk of infection.
Epsom Hospital is one of eight OpenOR projects completed by Bender UK in 2021.
Featured companies
- Companies:
- Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Merivaara