TOWIE - Our surgery teams maximise efficiency in latest successful initiative
Last week, our theatre operational, clinical and improvement teams worked together to facilitate ‘TOWIE’ (Theatre Operational Week – Improving Efficiency) at both King George and Queen’s hospitals. 
The aim of the initiative was to run our theatres as efficiently as possible, to identify opportunities for improvement and moving forward to take on those learnings.
Lucy Gladman, our Deputy Divisional Manager for Surgery, explained why TOWIE was introduced: “Our continuing focus as we recover from the pandemic is to ultimately tackle the patient backlog, and improve our patient’s experience when coming in for an operation at our sites.
“We decided a key part of this would be to maximise the efficiency of our theatres, hence the conception of TOWIE.”
The project involved a range of staff, from clinicians to admin support, who pulled out all the stops to ensure our theatres were running in top gear.
Lucy explained how the teams went about it: “We introduced a range of new measures focusing on efficiency, such as ensuring lists were booked up to four weeks in advance and that the right staffing was available for the operations.
“Throughout the week there was an emphasis on patient experience; we made sure there was good communication, minimising on the day cancelation; and we worked hard to improve the flow of the patient journey in our hospitals on the day of their treatment.
“There was also a huge focus from everyone involved to reduce wasted time between cases.”
The teams identified issues early and worked together to resolve them. Claire McGregor, our Interim Director of Improvement, credits this team spirit as a key factor in the week’s success: “A huge thank you to everyone who was involved, as they worked incredibly hard throughout the week.
“They’ve had to cope with additional issues due to winter pressures, so this was by no means an easy task, but we believe it be a success and we look forward to reporting back with the full results and how we intend to take on the learnings to improve our theatres going forward.”