IN A first for the Southern Hemisphere, St. Andrew’s Toowoomba Hospital is about to open a state-of-the-art German-made 3D image-capable operating theatre.
St Andrew’s has spent $1 million on the EndoAlpha “blue glass” theatre which is expected to open next week.
It is a fully integrated glass modular operating theatre that incorporates the latest theatre technology developed by Olympus.
The first operation in the blue-coloured theatre is booked for February 16.
The hospital’s Engineering Services manager Kenn Zerner said the colour blue was chosen because it was “easier on the eye”.
“That allows doctors to operate in a closed environment for a lot longer and it intensifies the operating lights,” he said.
The glass also makes it easier for the hospital to manage infection control.
It was installed by German specialists who unpacked it in a fashion similar to an Ikea catalogue product.
The laparoscopic theatre will allow surgeons to undertake precision keyhole surgery.
During operations surgeons will be able to use 3D glasses to watch detailed images on a 3D monitor.
“The quality of the imagery will be out of this world,” St Andrew’s CEO Ray Fairweather said.
He said the new theatre would improve education at St Andrew’s, which is a teaching hospital for the University of Queensland.
“We will be able to beam images to other education facilities,” Mr Fairweather said.
The hospital has been expanding for years, and opened a new $400,000 six bed Cardiac Medical Unit on January 12.
Mr Fairweather said the hospital had experienced significant growth in its cardiology services.
“This unit goes some way towards meeting the demands for cardiologists,” he said.
“We have cardiologists on site who perform angioplasties (widening of arteries) and prior to that patients had to go to Brisbane.”
Mr Fairweather said the six beds had been well utilised since the opening of the unit.
“Now we’re able to provide services that should have always have been provided in Toowoomba.”
A $5 million day hospital at the grounds is expected be completed in June.
It will double the size of the hospital’s recovery ward area.
The other major project slated for completion in June is a positron emission tomography-computed tomography capability.
“There is currently no PET-CT in Toowoomba and any patients that need the device have to go to Brisbane,” Mr Fairweather said.