A dedicated hospital designed to provide revolutionary care for the community of the southside of Glasgow is celebrating 10 years since it first opened its doors.
The New Victoria Hospital has been at the forefront of advances in day surgery and today is currently performing procedures as day surgery which no other hospital in Scotland is doing.
One of these is tonsillectomies – with the New Victoria being the only hospital in Scotland to provide tonsillectomies on a day basis. This means that adults who need their tonsils out can have this done and return home on the same day – rather than an overnight stay at other hospitals.
The hospital is also the only hospital in Scotland to provide day surgery for the insertion of pain pumps which target areas of chronic pain relief and the insertion of sacral nerve stimulators which help restore normal bowel and urinary functions.
‘The New Victoria Hospital’ which opened in 2009 has transformed the balance of acute hospital care away from inpatient overnight procedures and over the last ten years has had more than two million patients through its doors.
The unique aspect of the new Victoria was that surgical patients, who would normally have needed an overnight stay, have their operations as day surgery and go home the same day.
Day surgery is a safe and reliable method of providing care for patients undergoing a wide variety of procedures.
And over the last ten years approximately 750,000 patients have undergone either outpatient or day case procedures in the hospital and, although it does not provide traditional inpatient beds, it has a number of 23-hour short stay surgical beds.
These short-stay beds enable clinicians to extend the range of surgical procedures offered and also allow patients who do not have a carer or access to a phone to stay in hospital overnight to complete their post-surgery recovery.
Jonathan Best, Chief Operating Officer, said: “It has been a remarkable ten years since the new Victoria opened its doors to patients.
“The hospital is at the forefront of providing care to the local community in the southside of Glasgow and the staff are at the heart of the care and treatment offered to all patients coming to the hospital.”
As well as day surgery the hospital provides traditional outpatient clinics but also ‘one-stop’ clinics where patients can have a number of investigations and appointments all on the same hospital visit.
It also offers a range of diagnostic services and specialist services such as cardiology, chemotherapy and gynaecology.