Dene Barton Community Hospital becomes new home for pre-op checks, reducing visits to Musgrove

Patients who need surgery are now able to have their pre-operative checks done in a calmer, more spacious setting.

Musgrove Park Hospital’s Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic (POAC) has moved across to Dene Barton Community Hospital in Cotford St Luke, which has a large waiting area for patients and free parking. The change means most patients no longer need to travel to a busy hospital site before their surgery.

The POAC service has seen increasing demand over the years, mainly because more patients than ever need surgery.

The new location has dedicated rooms for anaesthetists to have conversations with their patients, healthcare assistants to run their clinics, and nurses to carry out their assessments.

Annie Allen, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s service manager for outpatients, peri-operative service, POAC and admissions, explained:

“Most of our patients no longer need to come into an acute hospital like Musgrove for their appointment before their surgery, which is great news for them.

“At Dene Barton Community Hospital, the parking is free, it’s a calmer environment and the space is much bigger, which makes a real difference.

“In fact, in October, we saw over 500 patients in the community instead of at Musgrove, taking away the stress of navigating a large busy hospital for our patients, who sometimes have limited mobility while they wait for their surgery.”

Pre-operative assessment clinics have mainly been done through telephone assessments in recent years, but patients still need to see a healthcare assistant for their observations, such as a blood tests.

Amanda Newell, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s clinical manager for POAC, explained: “Having a bigger clinic space means we will be able to see more high-risk patients, who could be frail, in person. We’ll also get a much better sense of how they are than we would on the phone.”

The general POAC service supports patients having planned surgery under general anaesthetic or sedation (except for paediatric patients and those needing vascular or bariatric surgery).

The team has around 30 colleagues, including nurses, healthcare assistants, operating department practitioners, admin colleagues and anaesthetists.

A patient visiting Dene Barton, Linda Garcia, added “It’s very peaceful here. Much better than Musgrove. I do like Musgrove but you do feel the peace when you walk in here.”

On average, the team carries out around 180 nurse-led assessments each week, with healthcare assistants supporting patients for face-to-face observations.

Some services will still run from Musgrove Park Hospital, especially for patients under the care of cancer clinics, such as gynaecology and urology, whose surgery is scheduled as urgent. The team will also continue to support patients at Musgrove who may find it difficult to travel to Dene Barton Community Hospital.

The team shares the site with other outpatient services, with services such as physiotherapy, pain management, speech and language therapy, and the Somerset Neurological Rehabilitation Centre, which is an inpatient ward with an average of 10 inpatients at any one time.

The move supports the NHS Long Term Plan, which aims to shift care closer to home and into the community, and reduce reliance on acute hospital-based services.

You can find a video with footage of the site, colleagues in action, and quotes from patients on our YouTube channel.