Countess of Chester – Temporary Twin Operating Theatres

At the end of last year MTX, working under ProCure 21 PSCP Interserve, completed the installation of a twin temporary operating theatre suite for the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Trust.

The building works commenced on site in August 2010 to provide the hospital with two additional operating theatres which will be in place for a period of two years whilst the refurbishment works of four of the hospitals eight existing theatres are carried out.

The unit was installed using MTX modular building methods which allowed the theatres to be installed within the tight 18 week programme. The new MTX temporary twin operating theatre, which is made up of 11 modules, is positioned on top of one of the hospitals car parks and is linked into the main hospital building via two link ways which run across a sloped embankment into the dirty and clean corridors of the original theatre wing at first floor level.

The project wasn't without its challenges as the theatres were restricted to a limited electrical supply. In order to solve this problem the design team at MTX came up with the innovative solution of installing an Air Source Heat Pump which allowed the facility to run off the available electrical supply and provided the Trust with an energy efficient and carbon friendly solution.

In early December 2010 MTX handed over the twin theatre unit to the Trust who are very happy with their temporary theatre solution. Amongst many of their achievements, the Countess of Chester Hospital is proud to have treated 18,000 (4.4%) more patients in 2010 compared to the previous year and they aim to continue to reduce waiting times in 2011 for both English and Welsh residents with the installation of these two new operating theatres.