Utilisation of Plastic Surgery Theatres in Single UK Centre
Abstract
Given the average cost of a NHS operating theatre is
£1,200 per hour, it is essential that optimal utilisation
is achieved. There are no standard guidelines for plastic
surgery theatre utilisation. UK governmental institutions
have suggested that operating departments should aim
for 90% utilisation but there has been little research to
validate the target of 90%. In 2018, the NHS Benchmarking
Network’s Operating Theatres project suggested
a minimum of 83% utilisation should be achieved by
general surgery theatres. In this study, the database ‘Opera’
was accessed to retrospectively analyse plastic surgery
theatre times. Theatre utilisation was calculated as a percentage
of total scheduled theatre time used by operative
time. This audit aimed to assess the utilisation of plastic
surgery theatres in one NHS hospital. In this study, the
overall theatre utilisation rate was 76.7% with 7.5% of
time lost due to late starts (median 20 minutes), 6.5% of
time was used for patient turnover (median 14 minutes)
and 12.1% of time was wasted by early finishes (median
36 minutes). Theatre utilisation in this study is below the
recommended level. Recommendations: 1. Aim to perform
the ‘huddle’ in theatre half an hour before the list
begins; 2. Communication of a 30-minute and 15-minute
warning so patients can be sent for earlier to decreased
turnover time; 3. Re-audit after changes have been made.
If start times and turnover times are improved, there is
the potential to add extra patients to theatre lists, increasing
theatre utilisation.
