Operating Theatres

Last updated: 15 October 2009

Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about the operating theatres in the new Royal North Shore Hospital acute services building.

How many theatres will there be in the new hospital?

There will be a total of 18 new state-of-the-art operating theatres in the new acute building at Royal North Shore Hospital, in addition to two operating theatres which will be retained in the Douglas Building, bringing the total number of operating theatres Royal North Shore Hospital to 20.

That means there will be more theatres, and bigger theatres, than those currently available in the existing Royal North Shore Hospital.

The 18 new theatres include two additional theatres which were added as a result of direct input hospital clinicians on the Executive User Group.

The new hospital will now have a total of:

• 16 theatres at 52 square metres
• 2 theatres at 60 square metres.

Will trauma cases fit into the theatres?

Trauma cases are currently conducted in a standard theatre in the existing Royal North Shore Hospital but in the future they will be conducted in the larger theatres, which exceed current health facility guidelines.

How will maternity cases get to the operating theatre?

The maternity theatre is located in the Douglas Building. Maternity patients will not generally need to travel to the main theatre block but if they do, they will use the covered link between the Douglas Building and the new Main Building.

Were doctors, nurses and other staff members consulted about the new operating theatres?

Yes. Consultation with clinicians and the community began in early 2006 and there has been a concerted and well-documented effort to consult with individuals and groups representing various clinical services at Royal North Shore Hospital.

This consultation involved doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and administrative and support staff.

Through a coordinated process, clinicians representing the medical and nursing community at Royal North Shore Hospital had the opportunity to participate in an executive user group at which they reviewed the three proposed designs - the first time this has ever occurred on a project of this kind in NSW.

They were given the opportunity to review the designs submitted by the three proponents, identify their issues and negotiate a resolution to those issues before the final tender was awarded.

The next step was schematic design consultation which began in September 2008.

This involved a total of over 200 staff - a quarter of which were medical clinicians - and each of 48 groups met at least three, sometimes four, times to review the plans for their departments and to comment on the relationships between the rooms in each department.

This process has also been successfully completed.

The project is now entering into the next stage of user consultation which is the detailed design phase. This phase looks at the room layout and equipment requirements and confirms that each room is fit for purpose.

This means that what we plan now is what staff will see when they walk into those rooms in 2013.

Design Development user groups commenced in March 2009 with an even broader range of clinician representation.

The groups have been expanded from 48 in schematic design to 92 for this next phase of consultation.