New anaesthetic machines upgrade operating theatres across the trust

Date: 29/01/2024 | Category: News 2024

44 new, state-of-the-art anaesthetic machines and monitors have been installed across operating theatres at Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe Hospitals, enhancing patient safety and recovery.

The equipment, which is used to generate and mix a fresh gas flow of medical gases and inhalational anaesthetic agents for the purpose of inducing and maintaining patients, undergoing a medical procedure such as surgery, in a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness.

The new GE devices enable Trust anaesthetists to more easily monitor and accurately dose patients. Technological enhancements, and smaller devices, also mean that patients’ vitals and breathing can be monitored at all times, even whilst being moved from the operating theatre to the recovery room.

Not only this, but improved gas recycling ensures less gas is emitted. This is better for patients and staff and will, in the long-term, contribute to a reduction in the Trust’s carbon emissions, making it a greener trust. The updated technology also provides better ventilatory support, should another outbreak of a respiratory virus, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, occur.

Chief Medical Officer Andrew McLaren said: “Making sure our anaesthetists have access to the best equipment means they can get ahead of the safety curve, keeping patients as safe and comfortable as possible during their medical procedure. I would like to thank the anaesthetics department for ensuring we can offer the most advanced solution to our patients here in Buckinghamshire and can continue to offer those benefits for many years to come.”