Friends’ gift helps improve the safety of spinal procedures in Somerset

Surgeons at Musgrove Park Hospital have been gifted a new specialist operating table that helps to improve the safety of spinal procedures.

The hospital’s League of Friends has kindly purchased the table, which makes it easier for our surgeons to operate on patients of all shapes and sizes.

Musgrove Park Hospital is the home of spinal surgery in Somerset, with 200 patients from across the county treated by our team of surgeons every year.

Mr Dushan Thavarajah, one of our consultant spinal surgeons, explains how the new operating table works.

“We know that the average size of the patients we’re seeing has increased over the years and we need to ensure our operating equipment is able to cope with this,” he said.

“This new specialist spinal surgery table will help to relieve the pressure on a patient’s abdomen, which will also reduce bleeding during the operation. It’s also much safer for us to perform a spinal procedure in this way.

“By having this state-of-the-art equipment, we can carry out more complex operations as a day surgery, which is something we are increasingly moving towards for many surgical specialties in Somerset, where clinically appropriate.

“It’s not only better for our patients to go home on the same day as their operation, where they can recover in the familiar surroundings of their own home, but it also helps to free up inpatient beds for those who do need an overnight stay.

“We’ve been highlighted by NHS England as a leading NHS provider of spinal surgery in the UK and it’s amazing donations like this from our League of Friends that will help us to take our surgery to another level.”

Peter Renshaw, chairman of the League of Friends at Musgrove Park, said:

“Our thanks most go to the community who continue to support the League of Friends so that funds can be made available for state-of-the-art equipment across all departments in the hospital."