The Operating Theatre Journal February 2022

New Operating
Theatre to open at
Orpington Hospital
Hundreds more operations will
be carried out each year
Maxillofacial surgeon Jag Dhanda secures £1m grant to
develop virtual and augmented reality surgical training
Professor Jag Dhanda, a Consultant Maxillofacial/Head and Neck Surgeon (OMFS) at the Queen Victoria
Hospital, East Grinstead and Honorary Professor of Surgery at the
Brighton and Sussex Medical School, has won a £1m grant from Health Education England (HEE) to develop
virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) surgical training resources.
“I hope I can demonstrate how this exciting new immersive technology can overcome the dramatic impact
that COVID has had on medical and surgical education. I want to prove that
A new state-of-the-art operating
theatre is being installed at
Orpington Hospital to enable
hundreds of additional operations
to take place each year.
The operating theatre and
recovery suite, which is due to
open in early 2022, is earmarked
primarily for orthopaedic
procedures. The new facility will
help reduce waiting times for
people who require knee and hip
replacement surgery, and other
procedures.
The new one-storey operating
theatre will also contain three
patient recovery bays, as well
as staff changing facilities. The
floorplan is specifically designed
to keep noise transfer from
corridors and other rooms to a
minimum, reducing disturbance
during patient recovery. Over the
next few weeks, the operating
theatre will be fitted out with the
latest equipment.
The building is a modular
construction, which is more
sustainable and is better for the
environment. The steel used has
at least 25 per cent recycled
content and as the parts were
built in an off-site factory –
before being delivered and fitted
together at the hospital – 90 per
cent of the waste produced was
also able to be recycled.
VR and AR can deliver lasting improvements to surgical training across wide range of skills, and validate their
use as medical education resources,” Professor Dhanda explained.
He said that General Medical Council (GMC) had found that the COVID pandemic had had a significant impact
on surgical training: “Trainees say they haven’t been able to compensate
for the lost training opportunities, and fear they have not progressed curriculum competencies. So, I believe
this emerging technology is an addition to conventional face-to-face training – and has the potential to
replace it!”
Professor Dhanda is the founder and clinical lead of Virtual Reality in Medicine and Surgery (VriMS), a freefor-trainee
platform that live streams surgical training videos in virtual reality.
VriMS now has over 400 videos filmed in virtual reality from 10 surgical specialties, and has just added
another 100 videos.
“A course has just finished where new content was live streamed and previous content restreamed. And,
there will be an additional hands-on course for OMFS surgeons (CRANIOMAX),
ENT and neurosurgeons that will also feature augmented reality applications for endonasal skull base access
and procedures.”
With the help of Professor Claire Smith, Head of Anatomy at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, cadaver
demonstrations of surgical techniques using virtual reality have been live streamed over five one-week
courses since the start of the pandemic.
Professor Dhanda said he also wanted VriMS to use eye tracking and physiological sensors with haptics to
show adaptions to training and trainee responses to VR/AR technology.
“I plan to use the grant to develop a true VR basic life support app for health care professionals and teachers,
and augmented reality apps for mandatory training with manual handling. Also, true VR apps for basic
surgical skills such as suturing and local skin flaps,” he added.
Professor Dhanda now plans a major project grant application to Innovate UK.
When responding to articles please quote ‘OTJ’
Jonathan Lofthouse, Site Chief
Executive, said, “The additional
operating theatre is a fantastic
addition to our services at
Orpington Hospital. It will help
us tackle waiting lists that have
grown during the COVID-19
pandemic so that patients receive
the timely care they deserve.
“The additional theatre capacity
will benefit people living locally,
as well as those living across
South East London, who may be
referred to Orpington Hospital for
treatment.”
Orpington Hospital, which was
rated Good during its last CQC
inspection, is part of King’s
College Hospital NHS Foundation
Trust.
Source: Mirage
12 THE OPERATING THEATRE JOURNAL www.otjonline.com