What do you do when waiting lists are long and your $50m campus upgrade is not finished yet? You get smart about utilising your existing spaces.

And this is exactly what Tauranga's Grace Hospital have done: repurposing a utility room and outfitting it with the latest technology so that it becomes a state-of-the-art endoscopy theatre.

'But don't imagine the new endoscopy suite as a dressed-up broom cupboard,” says Grace Hospital general manager Janet Keys.

'This space has been re-fitted with the latest in medical functionalities.

'For example, Grace is one of the first in the country to install a 4K imaging screen for use in endoscopies.”

With a 4000-pixel resolution screen, this means surgeons can see in incredibly clear detail when they carry out procedures.

Other features in the room include both the Rota Scope cabinet, which stores clean endoscopes between uses and maps their serial numbers, when they were last used and expiration dates electronically, as well as the Endo-base reporting system.

Janet says the Endo-base system allows for images taken during endoscopy to be embedded into the procedure report.

Endoscopy suite, broader view.

'With its clear and concise template, it allows for a very high standard of reporting and makes it very easy to do during the procedure – thus improving time efficiencies and accuracy,” she says.

As part of the ongoing Grace campus development, another endoscopy room will be built in the new hospital wing within the next 18 months.

Janet says all Grace endoscopists have waitlists, due in part to delayed procedures because of lockdown restrictions last year, but also because of the increasing number of older people in the Bay of Plenty, as well as greater public awareness due to the bowel screening program launched through the public health system.

'However, with the help of the new endoscopy room, Grace is steadily working through these waitlists, with an estimated 800 more endoscopy procedures planned to be completed this year more than last.”