University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) is bringing in a
mobile operating theatre and extra beds at Royal Lancaster Infirmary which will help ensure
emergency patients are seen as quickly as possible.
The additional facilities will be fully operational by the end of February. While the changes are
being made, to immediately provide an additional 34 medical beds, a small number of nonurgent
operations will be postponed for a short period.
The Trust will be contacting patients whose operations need to be postponed by telephone.
The type of operations to be postponed includes general surgical procedures such as hernia
repair, non malignant minor surgery such as the removal of cysts, some investigative
procedures, daycase surgery and non-urgent elective gynaecology procedures. Day case eye
surgery will not be affected.
To support the extra medical beds additional senior medical staff, and appropriately trained
and skilled nurses, will be in place to ensure safe medical cover and decision-making to
support the Medical Assessment Unit, the short stay wards, Emergency Department and the
inpatient wards.
Tony Halsall, Chief Executive, UHMBT says: “The introduction of the mobile unit will give us
valuable extra capacity to ensure there are enough beds available for emergency patients. In
the short term I regret that we will also need to postpone some non-urgent operations.
“We have recognised that there is a need to make improvements to emergency care at the
Royal Lancaster Infirmary to improve patient experience and reduce waiting times.
“Work is starting on a £1.5 million investment in these services and we also brought an
external expert in towards the end of last year to work with staff on plans that will provide a
longer term solution to managing emergency care. We are also working closely with our
commissioners to ensure our longer term plans are in the best interests of our patients.”