A NEW service at Nambour General Hospital will drastically cut the amount of time women undergoing a certain gynaecological procedure spend in hospital.

Until now, a hysteroscopy – which involves inserting a tiny camera into a woman’s uterus - has involved patients spending half a day at Nambour hospital but the new service will reduce that time to a couple of hours.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman announced the new outpatient hysteroscopy service at a media conference at NGH with Member for Nicklin Rob Skelton and the doctors who advocated for it, Dr Anders Faber-Swensson and Dr Adeline Foo.

Ms Fentiman thanked Dr Faber-Swensson, the hospital’s head of obstetrics and gynaecology, and Dr Foo, the gynaecology senior registrar, for making a common procedure much easier for Sunshine Coast women.

“If you suffer from period pain, pelvic pain, abnormal bleeding or endometriosis then chances are you will have to have a hysteroscopy and that used to take around 12-14 hours and involve general anaesthetic,” the Minister said. “Now, with the new equipment these wonderful doctors have advocated for, women can get this procedure in one to two hours and only local anaesthetic is needed.

Ms Fentiman said 350-400 women would likely benefit from the new service every year.

The Sunshine Coast Health Foundation’s Wishlist has helped fundraise for new equipment and services to make the procedure possible for outpatients at the hospital.

Dr Foo said the hospital team was excited about the new procedure, which meant minimal disruption and risk for patients.

Dr Faber-Svensson said the new service would be available at the hospital within a few months and would benefit patients as well as freeing up theatre space. 

“The time spent having a hysteroscopy under general anaesthetic, as we do it now, involves fasting overnight, coming into the hospital and spending time waiting for your space on the operating list and then having general anaesthetic and then recovering from that so that takes the whole day for the women undergoing it,” he said.

“For most women having the procedure in this situation, in the outpatients setting, it’s just with a local anaesthetic, walking in from the street, they can have the procedure done and be in and out in a couple of hours and drive themselves home. 

“It’s really well tolerated by most women. It’s mainly a diagnostic procedures but we can also do minor treatment.”

Mr Skelton said the new service was “a big win for women and girls on the Sunshine Coast”.

Ms Fentiman said procedures like the simpler hysteroscopy were what the state government’s Women and Girls Health Strategy, worth $1 billion over five years was all about.

Delayed emergency department upgrade is imminent

AN upgrade to Nambour General Hospital’s emergency department should be completed within a couple of months, according to Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.

Ms Fentiman acknowledged work had taken longer than the two years it was originally expected to last.

“I’m advised that the Emergency department should be ready by the end of May which is so exciting for the Nambour community but we are experiencing right now a lot of rain so it’s conditional on the weather but we should have the ED up and running in months,” she said.

Ms Fentiman said the hospital had been providing good care for the community since the 1920s and although much work had been done over the years, the upgrade was “definitely needed”.