By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

MORE THAN 200 Tayside orthopaedic patients are to be treated in a mobile operating theatre bolted on to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

The first patients to use the mobile unit, provided by private healthcare company Vanguard, will undergo surgery today.

The people receiving replacement knee and hip joints should notice no difference from surgery in one of the hospital’s regular theatres, according to a leading orthopaedic surgeon based at the hospital.

Ben Clift, NHS Tayside’s clinical director of orthopaedics, said the mobile unit was brought on site to create “extra capacity” and allow a greater volume of patients to be treated within maximum waiting times targets set by the Scottish Executive.

While the private company is providing the mobile theatre and staffing it with its own nurses, Ninewells surgeons will perform the operations.

“We have had to expand capacity in Ninewells quickly at short notice because of these waiting time guarantees,” said Mr Clift. “Demand is outstripping supply and this is just a means of dealing with that.”

At the moment the maximum waiting time to a first out-patient appointment is 26 weeks, the same maximum time a patient can wait between being put on a list for treatment and actually getting that treatment. However, these maximum waits will be reduced to 18 weeks by the end of the year, overloading the existing capacity.

Mr Clift said an extra orthopaedic surgeon is being recruited to join the hospital team and the hope was that, once the waiting list was reduced with the help of the mobile unit, the extra member of staff would help to sustain shorter waiting times in future without the need to bring in extra help or send NHS patients for treatment in private hospitals outside the local area.

Mr Clift said the £1 million unit was “state of the art” with a sophisticated clean-air system designed to remove the risk of contamination of open wounds.

The mobile unit has been parked next to the hospital’s renal unit on the south side of the hospital, where it is expected to remain for the next 10 weeks. A temporary corridor has been created to link the unit to the main building. “Patients should notice no difference at all,” Mr Clift said. “The mobile theatre is just a small part of the jigsaw in the patient journey.”

The unit is parked directly below the orthopaedic wards where patients will be prepared for surgery and cared for after their operation.

Hazel Carroll, clinical group director for orthopaedics, said several options had been considered for increasing the volume of patients being treated. That included offering patients the chance to be treated in a private hospital in Glasgow.

Last year around 120 patients, predominantly those requiring hip or knee replacements, were treated in Glasgow and at Fernbrae Private Hospital in Dundee.

She said patients were reluctant to travel to Glasgow for treatment, particularly concerned about the onus on relatives visiting from a distance. Though some patients had agreed to go to Glasgow, others preferred to wait. Mrs Carroll said bringing in the mobile unit satisfied patients’ desire to be treated close to home and also would help achieve the waiting times targets.

While the bulk of the work in the mobile unit will be orthopaedic, a small number of patients from other areas under pressure to meet waiting times will also be treated in the mobile theatre. These will include general surgery, plastic surgery and ear, nose and throat surgery.