AROUND 25 members of non-theatre staff wore scrubs and surgical hats as they helped in a week-long exercise devised by Southend Hospital to help enhance its theatres system.

Staff from across the hospital, including from IT and recruitment, were deployed to take down any issues in their designated areas and report them, ultimately freeing up the theatre teams and ward staff to focus on patient care.

David Heaver, theatre manager, thanked all those who took part in the event.

He said: “Perfect Week: Theatres was an extremely enjoyable process. The smooth running of this week was down to eachand every one of the staff involved. All the staff in theatres possess the dedication, commitment and drive to ensure we learn and grow from this week and continue to make our department the best it can be.”

There were a number of issues that came up during the week, some were solved quickly and others will take time.

The hospital is also looking into improvements for patients waiting a long time on the day of their surgery, as well as how the theatre system can be better used to audit and measure timings for all surgical procedures.