On-site services
In conjunction with vascular specialists based in the Wellington area, we have recently launched a state-of-the-art regional centre of excellence for vascular surgery, at the heart of which is New Zealand’s first private “hybrid” theatre.
The new centre has been developed in close consultation with the region’s vascular specialists, who will now all consult and operate in a private capacity from Southern Cross Hospital. The Vascular Centre of Excellence also offers patients state-of-the-art vascular ultrasound and non-invasive testing, and is staffed by dedicated vascular sonographers.
Vascular surgery is the area of surgery which manages problems or diseases of the arteries or veins created by blockages, narrowing, swelling, or other malfunctions.
The new hybrid theatre has been set up with leading medical technology and incorporates both an operating room and catheterisation lab for complex interventions and surgical procedures. Our aim is to deliver better clinical outcomes for patients whilst maintaining affordable care. A hybrid theatre allows treatments from relatively low risk procedures right through to open surgery to be performed in the same place, making it far more time and cost-efficient. The new hybrid theatre in Wellington will also be equipped to carry out cardiology procedures.
Recent investments formed part of an ongoing programme
Working to develop specialist ‘centres of excellence’ is just one part of our effort to enhance the elective surgical services available to our patients in the Wellington region. Our services reflect ongoing investments in new technology, the development of higher acuity care facilities and the necessary investment in skiled nursing teams to deliver a sophisticated level of care.
Early in 2011, the hospital opened an intensive care unit (ICU), enabling the nursing teams to provide services to both higher-risk patients and for the increasing number of complex elective surgical procedures now undertaken in the private sector.
Our Specialist Centre, located on-site, has also been extensively refurbished to accommodate the growing number of consulting surgeons and medical professionals choosing to base themselves at the hospital. While new, innovative operating theatres and procedure rooms and our ICU are the most visible developments at Southern Cross Hospital in Wellington, the entire hospital has undergone a modernisation programme during 2010-2011. Now, equipped with more advanced technology, the hospital is able to better cater to a wide range of medical procedures.