Mobile facilities In 2018 Ian Hinitt in his then role as President of
IHEEM unveiled Vanguard’s brand-new
laminar flow theatre, which he stated was deployed across the UK and the globe featuring “increased space, refined scrub areas, best-in-class lighting and surgeons panel”. A further
laminar flow operating theatre was installed at
Gilbert Bain Hospital in
Lerwick in early 2022 for 12 weeks, which the hospital estimated would support 400 patients with
cataract and
ear, nose and throat procedures, as well as allowing for
joint replacements to be performed for the first time in
Shetland. The theatre features: • an
anaesthetic room; • operating theatre; • two-bed first-stage recovery area; • staff changing room; and • utility areas Vanguard’s first
mobile endoscope decontamination unit was also installed in 2018 at
Oxford’s
John Radcliffe Hospital, able to decontaminate up to 120 endoscopes per day used in
colonoscopies and gastric examinations. In May 2019 Vanguard provided a
mobile endoscopy suite to
NHS Lothian’s St John’s Hospital, Livingstone to increase capacity for procedures including gastric, bowel and chest procedures. The suite included a reception, waiting area, consulting room, admission/discharge area, procedure room, recovery ward, toilets and changing room, refreshment area, utility areas, clean processing room, one-way flow for scopes, pass-through endoscope washer/ disinfector, dedicated decontamination area, and an
ultraviolet light endoscope storage cabinet and had
HEPA filtered environmental air. In 2021 the company provided a
dual-procedure endoscopy suite at
Fairfield General Hospital with a laminar-flow theatre, two procedure rooms, a six-bed recovery bay and two consultation rooms, in a multi-room bespoke temporary modular building. It provides
colonoscopy,
sigmoidoscopy, and gastroscopy seven days a week for patients across
Greater Manchester. The company entered into a contract to perform cataract surgery for
Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in May 2014 using a mobile unit in a car park at
Musgrove Park Hospital. The contract was quickly stopped when patients came back to the Trust's casualty department with a high rate of complication following surgery. A report on the incident was released on 16 October. Vanguard chief executive Ian Gillespie said: "No issues have been identified with the Vanguard mobile theatre facility itself."[4] It was unclear who would be liable for any
clinical negligence claims. Colin Close, the trust's medical director, was quoted by the
Somerset County Gazette saying: “Any financial responsibility would rest with us. If any patients wish to pursue compensation, we would work with them,” but the Trust said Dr Close had been misquoted. According to the Department of Health the NHS standard contract requires all contractors of NHS care “to hold and maintain adequate and appropriate indemnity insurance”. Mr. Gillespie said that it “has appropriate cover in place”. In October 2018 Vanguard installed an
eight-bedded mobile ward at
Hereford County Hospital to manage increased demand and winter pressures on hospital services.
Mobile theatre units were installed at
Goole and District Hospital in early November 2018, which
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) stated would help to increase its operational capacity by an estimated 120 procedures a month for the six months spent there. In late 2019 Vanguard launched its latest
mobile central sterile services department (CSSD), stating that it is ‘one of the first of its kind’ providing a high specification, temporary facility for intense cleaning and sterilisation of items used in procedures by hospital surgeons and clinical staff. The unit includes: • a pre-cleaning station with built-in
ultrasonic cleaner; • washer-disinfectors and steam sterilisers; • a packing area; • an independent plant room; • an electronic data centre; • staff welfare areas; and •
HEPA-filtered environmental air. Vanguard Healthcare Solutions says that the new mobile CSSD received over 350 visitors at the launch event. The company also provided a mobile CSSD to the Medical Centre Leeuwarden while their CSSD department was under renovation. The unit was self-sufficient and had a surface area of 120m2. It was fully-equipped, with a ‘precleaning station with a built-in ultrasonic cleaner, Getinge washer disinfectors and steam sterilisers, a water treatment installation, compressed air supply, an electronic data centre and HEPA filtered air treatment installation’. In November 2019, Vanguard installed
mobile laminar theatres on site at
Russells Hall Hospital in
Dudley to support with
orthopaedic surgeries, following a successful previous contract undertaken while the Trust refurbished its orthopaedic theatre facilities. The mobile theatre provided an anaesthetic room, operating theatre, two bed first-stage recovery area, staff changing room, and utility areas, plus a specially-constructed corridor and ramps which joined the main body of the hospital to the unit for a more seamless patient journey. Following a pilot project with
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in 2019, the company built a
bespoke mobile theatre to support the
ophthalmology team with a backlog of cataract surgeries over the course of two years. In 2023, Vanguard provided a mobile laminar flow theatre to Wharfedale Hospital in Otley, forming part of an elective care hub. The hub treats patients across a number of specialties including urology, plastic surgery, maxillofacial, colorectal, breast and vascular surgical procedures. The
mobile laminar flow theatre provides an anaesthetic room, operating theatre, two-bed first-stage recovery area, staff changing room and utility areas.
Modular facilities The company provided what it called a 'bespoke modular solution' for interventional
radiology procedures to
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust during a refurbishment period. The completed module included a bed bay, plant room and standard theatre with
HVAC system providing 27 fresh air changes per hour. Royal Preston hospital received a second mobile theatre from Vanguard Healthcare to increase surgical capacity after a significant backlog in elective surgery. Alongside a mobile laminar flow theatre provided to Wharfedale Hospital in Otley, Vanguard also built two bespoke modular buildings, which created extra storage and staff welfare facilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 Vanguard installed a new 18-bed, 600sqm modular ward at
Kettering General Hospital to provide extra capacity.
Temporary facilities In 2019, Vanguard created a temporary
minor injuries unit (MIU) at the
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,
NHS Lothian, allowing them to divert non-urgent cases away from the hospital’s busy
emergency department. ==References==