Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited the Regional Day Procedure Unit at Lagan Valley Hospital today, which has carried out 21,000 procedures since it opened in October 2020. Minister Nesbitt heard about plans to expand the successful Endoscopy Service in the unit from five to seven days a week and plans for the Centre to open in the evening.
Endoscopy is crucial in the detection of cancer, particularly cancers of the digestive system (such as oesophageal, stomach and colorectal cancers). It allows doctors to visually examine internal organs using a flexible tube with a camera and take biopsies for further testing.
The Regional Day Procedure Centre was the first dedicated facility in Northern Ireland for Regional routine day surgical procedures. The unit plays a vital role in delivering efficient, non-urgent elective surgeries to patients from multiple Health Trusts across Northern Ireland, reducing waiting times and improving patient care.
The Centre provides operating capacity for patients from the Belfast Trust, South Eastern Trust, and Southern Trust, ensuring a collaborative, regional approach to tackling surgical backlogs. Following a successful pilot phase, the Regional Day Procedure Unit was fully commissioned in April 2023, reinforcing its contribution to elective surgery services.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said, “This is one of Northern Ireland’s two Day Procedure Units. This is a relatively new development, the throughput is high and it is addressing waiting lists which, of course, is the big challenge within Health and Social Care. I wanted to hear first-hand from the people who are delivering this great service and to see what more we can do to help them to help patients.
Highlighting the significant role of the Regional Day Procedure Units, Minister Nesbitt added, “Specialist Centres are the future. I am very keen on the shift left where we deliver care in Primary and Community Centres and if you do need to come to a hospital, I want hospitals to be specialising. My consultation on the network is just exactly that. Do not think about a hospital in isolation, think of it as part of a network. Not all hospitals will do everything, but the hospitals that do something, will do it really well.”
Welcoming Minister Nesbitt to the unit, Trust Chief Executive, Roisin Coulter commented, “We are delighted to welcome our Minister for Health to Lagan Valley Day Procedure Centre. This is a unit which is playing a key role in tackling and addressing the waiting lists right across Northern Ireland, so it really is an important day.
“Since the Day Procedure Unit opened, we have carried out 21,000 day case surgeries and there is a great opportunity to do more. Our staff are keen to work together, in partnership with other Trusts to provide this day surgery service for patients. It is so important. We are doing so many specialties now and we want to enhance that even more.”
Director of Surgery, Elective Care, Maternity and Paediatrics, Maggie Parks, explained, “We are delivering lots of surgical procedures for General Surgery, Urology, ENT and Plastic Surgery and that is for the Region. We have surgeons that come from the South Eastern Trust, Belfast Trust and the Southern Trust to work from Lagan Valley Hospital and deliver a service for the population of Northern Ireland. We deliver 20 Endoscopy lists every week, it is a Regional facility for Northern Ireland and it is wonderful to be able to deliver that service.
“I am very proud of this Unit. I am very proud of what we are doing here and very proud of the staff who work here. The staff underpin everything that we do and they are a wonderful team delivering a great service.”
Highlighting the benefits of the Centre, Consultant Surgeon, Ms Lynn Darragh remarked, “We know that there are problems with capacity across the Region and if we can pool our resources in one place and try to get as much capacity as we can through the limited resources we have, that means we can get more patients through the system. For some people it does mean having to travel but it might mean ultimately a slightly shorter waiting time for their procedure.”
Assistant Director of Elective Care, Chris Allam highlighted, “The Regional Centre is amazing. During COVID we stayed open, it has saved so many lives. The Endoscopy procedures that we are currently providing here are investigations for patients who have been referred in for suspected cancer, so they are extremely vital and it is important that we do those procedures promptly. With the capacity here, we have reduced the length of wait across the region for patients waiting for a suspected cancer endoscopy procedure.
“The Endoscopy side of this unit has won an Elective Award. It has increased its capacity to seven days a week. We are expanding the service to evenings which is what are patients want. They love coming to an evening or a weekend appointment because they do not have to arrange childcare or leave their jobs. It is fantastic and it is good for us, it is good for the staff and it is good for the general public.
