A pre-operation assessment clinic, opened at Mater Dei Hospital in February, has improved efficiency and patient bed turnover, Health Minister Chris Fearne said during a visit this morning.

The clinic tests patients some 10 days prior to their operations and flags issues which may prevent the procedures from going ahead.

As a result, patients do not need to go to hospital two days before their operation, and operations are not cancelled at the last minute, leaving theatres under utilised. 

Some 60 patients are screened every day and then go home, saving on hospital beds. 

Mr Fearne the efficiency which this clinic had brought about was particularly important in view of the growing number of surgeries. 60,000 were carried out in state hospitals last year, 85 per cent of them at Mater Dei and this is expected to increase by six per cent this year.