HMC’s Ambulatory Care Centre to open this year

A new Ambulatory Care Centre (ACC) – part of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) – will open its doors later this year focusing on delivering outpatient and day surgery services in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City. Ambulatory care includes surgical day care and outpatient clinical services and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is among the growing number of healthcare providers designing and building facilities to cater for short term surgical stays of less than 24 hours.ACC will be one of the first of its kind in the region. It will offer a ‘one stop shop’ approach to care, providing patients with a variety of support services, including laboratory, radiology and pharmacy services all in one place. The facility will have 66 beds – 12 pre-operation bed spaces and 54 post-anaesthesia care unit recovery beds. In addition, there will be 14 operating theatres.  “The ACC will provide us with the opportunity to perform more types of surgeries, and to help a greater number of patients. We will have improved throughput in the operating theatre by centralising scheduling and using theatre rooms for more than one specialty. It will help improve the patient experience,” said Dr Khalid Mohamed Ahmed al-Jalham, medical director of the ACC.The 33,400-square-metre ACC will offer urology, podiatry, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, audiology and ophthalmology services. It will also house a pre-assessment clinic where patients will undergo a thorough medical evaluation to ensure readiness for surgery.  The patient care process is designed to produce the best possible clinical outcome, maximise access and convenience for our patients as well as offer as many treatments and procedures as possible on an ambulatory basis. This means that patients will avoid unnecessary hospital stays and recover in their own home environments with follow-up care.“The ACC will provide outpatient clinic services and a range of elective clinical procedures to adult patients who do not need an overnight stay in hospital. Patients will be able to return home the same day of their surgery. They will recover in the comfort of their home. This is an exciting development for HMC, Qatar and the region,” added Dr al-Jalham.“By creating more capacity and co-locating services, we will be able to improve clinical outcomes and the patient experience. We are creating an environment that will promote innovation as well as healing and allow us to improve what we do. Our number one priority is providing our patients with safe, effective and compassionate care,” added Dr al-Jalham.