Patients who go into Musgrove Park Hospital for routine treatment on swollen and enlarged veins are now able to avoid a lengthy wait for a procedure in an operating theatre.
The condition, known as varicose veins, usually occurs on a patient’s legs or feet, and is treated by vascular surgeons using a variety of procedures, including endothermal ablation, foam sclerotherapy, as well as some minor surgery within an operating theatre.
The endothermal ablation procedure involves threading a small heating fibre into the vein, surrounded by local anaesthesia, which leads to the vein eventually disappearing from the surface of the skin.
Foam sclerotherapy is usually carried out without need for any anaesthesia, where a surgeon injects foam into the affected vein, through fine needles guided by an ultrasound.
Colleagues in the hospital’s vascular department have worked hard over the last two years to create a new treatment room, so that these relatively straightforward procedures can be carried out in an outpatient setting, rather than taking up a theatre slot.
So far the room has been used to treat well over 100 patients, who’ve also been able to return home the same day as their procedure – usually within a matter of hours.
Karen Rayson, a vascular nurse specialist at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, explains: “By moving to our new clinic room in the vascular department, we’ve been able to free up a whole operating list in our day surgery centre for other procedures, which can only help to reduce waiting times across the board.
“Instead of all the lengthy pre-theatre checks, our patients can now arrive just 30 minutes before their procedure, have their treatment under a local anaesthetic, followed by a quick recovery, perhaps a cup of tea, and they’re generally back home within a few hours.”
MAIN PHOTO: From left, Lorna Hewart – vascular clinical service manager, Mr Andrew Stewart – consultant vascular surgery, Karen Rayson – vascular nurse practitioner.
