You are here
NHS England celebrates heroes of the operating theatre
12 May 2023
Staff who play a vital role supporting patients before, during and after surgery will take centre stage this weekend as NHS England helps to celebrate National ODP Day.
ODPs – operating department practitioners - play a major role in each phase of a patient’s perioperative care, including anaesthetic, surgery and recovery, and work in a variety of hospital settings including critical care.
Their crucial tasks include assessing patients, managing the preparation of operating theatres and taking responsibility for all instruments used during surgery.
This Sunday (May 14) marks National ODP Day, which aims to raise the profile of this allied health profession and highlight the work ODPs do.
The theme of this year’s day is ‘Advancing the Profession’ and NHS Trusts are planning a variety of different activities to celebrate.
For many healthcare workers, becoming an ODP has opened the door to a wide range of career development opportunities.
Victoria Garcia, now a senior resuscitation officer at Barts hospital, London, said: “Being an ODP has helped me develop in multiple different areas, from working in anaesthetics, scrub and recovery to covering the cardiac arrest and labour ward bleep.
“My background in theatres has given me a fantastic knowledge base for my current role as well as the skills I need to approach various members of the team and supporting family.”
ODP Vincent Bennell, now emergency planning officer at London’s Royal Free Hospital, added: “Having exposure to a wide range of clinical specialties has been useful to understand what the challenges are for services.
“Having a good understanding of critical care, physiology and pharmacology at the level required for ODPs has been very helpful to my current role.”
You can learn more about ODPs and the opportunities available to them on the NHS Health Careers website here:-