“I feel like I am at the 42 kilometre mark of a marathon, with only a few hundred metres to go!” Says Tracey Wyllie, Peri Operative Services Manager – Surgical Services.

She is talking about the new theatre recovery area, which opened on Monday.

Called the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU), the new theatre recovery area opened earlier this week as part of Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project.

Tracey is excited as, “it enables us to deliver quality care in an environment that the team is really proud of and proud to work in.”

The new unit has expanded its care to 20 patients and boasts a dedicated bay for high dependency patients requiring acute care.

Tracey explains this will be a dedicated space to care for patients who need to be ventilated post-surgery.

The team Tracey refers to, came together from the planning stages and comprises members of the Central Sterilising Storage (CSSD), Nurse Unit Managers, Registered Nurses (RN) along with instrument and theatre technicians.

There were a lot of considerations involved, explains Tracey, including relocation planning, model of care and operational readiness guidelines.

“It’s been a long journey, with a lot of work from a lot of people,” says Tracey.

Linda Romano, Divisional Director Nursing, Surgical Services says, she is proud of Tracey and her team, and adds, “It is really rewarding to see the hard work the working group have put in, with all their planning to ensure that staff and patients have a workable and safe environment to look after our community.”

Featured image shows left to right Tracey Wyllie, Jeanette Atme, Linda Romano and Natasha Josevski