Use of operating theatres.

Adequate operating theatre facilities are essential for the efficient and effective work of any surgical department. National guidelines on the provision of theatres differ substantially from those proposed by the Medical Architectural Research Unit' following a survey of existing provision in acute hospitals in England. Irrespective of which, if either, of the two standards is correct, the present restraint on capital investment in the National Health Service means that any increase in surgical treatment over the next few years will have to be achieved, in most instances, through better use of available resources rather than the construction of new theatres. With this in mind, a survey of main operating theatres, excluding maternity and accident and emergency, was carried out in the Oxford Region to determine their use during daytime weekday hours and the extent to which these facilities met the needs of each health district.