One step closer to business as usual in theatres at Foresterhill despite decontamination unit shutdown

As work continues to refurbish NHS Grampian’s central decontamination unit at Foresterhill, vascular surgeon and acute medical director Paul Bachoo and his team are determined that any ongoing impact on theatre activity is minimal.  
 
“Theatre capacity is being well utilised and around 80% of our usual decontamination capacity is translating to about 90% of theatre utilisation which is great. This prevents delays to urgent and emergency care. That’s thanks to a lot of careful planning by our teams and a lot of hard work continuing in the background, and we’re very grateful to all concerned. 

 

“I’d say it’s almost business as usual in theatres. With much more kit available, we know exactly what can go ahead further in advance now and the processes to manage that are very streamlined. We’re using theatre capacity differently – with surgeons carrying out a number of different procedures rather than more of the same on the one day, for example – and that’s really working well. 

 

“We’re no longer postponing operations and the day-to-day impact on patients as a result of this work is minimal now, though we in no way under-estimate the significant impact on patients who have had operations and dental procedures postponed in recent months. We reiterate our apologies to those affected,” Paul commented.  

 

Decontamination specialist staff are continuing to operate the decontamination unit at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen 24/7, and the team is continuing to work alongside a number of other Scottish health boards to process as many trays of instruments as they possibly can. 

 

Additional building and utility requirements are needed to accommodate new washer disinfector machines in the central decontamination unit at Foresterhill so the timeline for re-opening the facility now runs into 2026 with an end of January opening now expected.  

 

Alan Wilson, director of infrastructure and sustainability for NHS Grampian explained: “We’re working through a really complex programme of work as quickly as possible. The installation and commissioning of the new washer disinfector machines will now begin more than two weeks later than we had originally hoped. This means the programme will unfortunately be delayed into January and we are working closely with contractors to progress this as quickly as possible. We recognise the ongoing impact on our patients of any further delays and also on staff who are desperate to treat their patients.” 

 

The team’s manual washing process – put in place to support the decontamination effort before equipment is processed elsewhere – continues to operate from a temporary location in the University of Aberdeen’s Life Sciences Innovation Building at Foresterhill.  

 

Paul added: “All the additional supports we have in place – colleagues from health boards around the country, the University accommodating us at short notice, our staff changing working arrangements and trying different ways of doing things – are making things work in the meantime. Thank you again to everyone. We really couldn’t do it without you.” 

 

A total of 753 elective surgical procedures and 739 dental outpatient appointments were postponed as a result of the Foresterhill CDU being taken out of use. Many have now been re-booked and work continues to make sure these are completed as soon as possible.