HSC plastic surgery clinic built with donations

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This article was published 22/06/2023 (842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thousands of patients who need urgent and non-cosmetic plastic surgery will be treated in a new, purpose-built clinic at Health Sciences Centre designed to speed up care and reduce pressure on the hospital’s operating rooms.

The clinic at 800 Sherbrook St. was officially unveiled by the HSC Foundation on Thursday, more than six months after it opened.

“It is quite amazing the transformation that has happened,” said Dr. Ed Buchel, surgery site director at HSC. “This model… is designed to reduce the time from seeing a trauma patient, to seeing a cancer patient to delivering the definitive care.”

Staff in the fourth-floor clinic see patients with traumatic hand and face injuries; burn victims; breast and skin cancer patients; and people with other ailments that require reconstructive surgery.

The plastic surgery clinic was in desperate need of a facelift, according to patients and staff who described the former space as dingy and dismal. It had two treatment rooms; patient privacy was minimal because rooms were separated by thin curtains; and safety and security needed to be improved.

The foundation spent $1.8 million to gut the space, build 10 private procedure rooms, and add an advanced plastic surgery procedure area that meets the equipment and design standards of a general OR. The redevelopment was entirely funded by donations, which also purchased operating room tables, drills, and a specialized imaging machine.

The foundation said the advanced procedure room is the first of its kind in Canada and will accept 85 per cent of the hospital’s plastic surgery trauma patients. For the most part, only those who require general anesthesia will be seen in the general operating room.

Owing to the design of the clinic and the technology available in the procedure room, fewer staff is required to treat patients who often have their consultation and surgery on their first visit and are discharged the same day. It’s expected to handle 21,600 patients a year, or about 1,800 a month.

Buchel said patients used to wait weeks or months for surgery and the delays damaged their quality of life and led to worse outcomes.

By redirecting patients to the clinic, surgeries are less likely to be bumped and between 50 and 75 days’ worth of general operating room time will be made available for other cases each year. The clinic will also take patients from other surgical centres and reduce demand in other parts of the health system.

“Everyone’s really aware of the wait list for surgery and all of us in the province (are) struggling very hard to get our wait lists under control. Our in-patient wait list alone is unacceptable at our hospitals,” Buchel said.

“Anything that we can do that frees up our main operating room allows us at the site to treat our spine patients that are waiting too long, our thoracic surgery patients, our neurosurgery patients, our trauma patients and our big oncologic cancer patients.”

Up to 20 per cent of trauma patients treated at the clinic also require transport to HSC from communities outside the capital region or do not have a fixed address or phone, Buchel said.

The capacity to offer same-day treatment will mean smaller transportation bills, fewer overnight hotel stays, and more open in-patient beds available for people who require them, he said.

“We free up beds, we use less nurses, they recover quicker and they go home quicker, and we keep our system moving instead of being clogged up,” he said.

Kristin Coulthard was among the first patients to receive surgery in the advanced procedure room in March. She broke her hand in a fall while walking her dog and needed three pins in her hand.

Two days later, Coulthard received her assessment at HSC and was thrilled when the surgeon told her the procedure could be performed that afternoon.

“I was not expecting that. What an amazing experience,” she said. “I was home later that day and back to work the next day.”

HSC Foundation chief executive officer Jonathon Lyon said the clinic improves working conditions for physicians, nurses, and other health-care professionals.

“I’d rather come to work in a brand-new clinic with new facilities that are safe, provide better care for patients, and state-of-the-art equipment, than not,” Lyon said. “That’s what we should all strive for as Manitobans: to provide our health-care heroes with the best.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca