> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Theatre

> Add your operating theatres, adapt the surgical safety checklist, and decide whether an incomplete phase stops a case advancing.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="Enterprise" roles="Owner, manager or accountant" note="Needs the Surgical theatre care area, which ships OFF" />

The **Theatre** tab holds two cards: the rooms cases are booked into, and the surgical safety checklist your theatre confirms — including the one switch that decides whether an unticked box can stop an operation.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Settings', 'Departments settings', 'Theatre']} />

<TaskHeader before="The Surgical theatre care area switched on in Facility — it is off by default" time="10 minutes, longer if you adapt the checklist" after="Named theatres to book into, and a checklist your team recognises" />

## What this tab controls

| Control                                          | What it does                                                                                                                                                      | Default        |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| New theatre name field + **Add**                 | Adds a theatre. An inline field on the card, not a dialog                                                                                                         | —              |
| Theatre status                                   | **Active**, **Maintenance** or **Closed**, per theatre                                                                                                            | Active         |
| **Require the checklist before a case advances** | The enforcement switch. "Off (the default): a gap is shown and recorded, but the case can proceed. On: the status change is refused until the phase is complete." | **Off**        |
| **Customise the checklist**                      | Copies the standard form in so you can edit it. Appears only while you are on the default                                                                         | Not customised |
| Item text (once customised)                      | Edit an item's wording in place; it saves when you leave the field                                                                                                | —              |
| **Retire**                                       | Takes an item out of use without deleting it                                                                                                                      | —              |
| Add-an-item field per phase                      | Adds your own item to **Sign in**, **Time out** or **Sign out**                                                                                                   | —              |

The **Theatres** card also states the booking rule up front: "Two cases cannot occupy the same theatre at overlapping times."

### The three phases

Until you customise it, the checklist is the standard **WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (2009)**, in three phases:

| Phase        | When it is done                   |
| ------------ | --------------------------------- |
| **Sign in**  | Before induction of anaesthesia   |
| **Time out** | Before skin incision              |
| **Sign out** | Before the patient leaves theatre |

## Set it up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Turn the care area on">
    **Theatre** appears in the rail only once **Surgical theatre** is switched on in [Facility](/hospital/settings/facility). It ships off, so a new hospital turns it on before this tab exists at all.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add your theatres">
    Type the name into the field at the bottom of the **Theatres** card — "New theatre name, e.g. Theatre 1" — and select **Add**. Repeat for each room.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Mark any room that is out of use">
    Use the dropdown on the row to set **Maintenance** or **Closed**. It saves immediately.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide about enforcement">
    Read the two outcomes below before you touch **Require the checklist before a case advances**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Adapt the checklist only if your form differs">
    If your site uses its own wording, select **Customise the checklist**. Your current items are copied in as a starting point and each becomes editable. Edit wording in place, select **Retire** for items you do not use, and add your own to any phase.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Enforcement: both outcomes, honestly

This is one switch with two defensible answers, and the product does not pretend otherwise.

| **Off** — the default                                                                          | **On**                                                                    |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| An incomplete phase shows a gap at the moment of transition and records it. The case proceeds. | The status change is refused until every item in the phase is confirmed.  |
| Compliance is measured afterwards rather than enforced at the door.                            | Compliance is guaranteed at the door.                                     |
| A gap can be missed if nobody reads the report.                                                | A software gate sits between a deteriorating patient and their operation. |

The card argues for leaving it off, and says why: "Most theatres leave this off deliberately — a system that refuses to let an operation proceed because a box is unticked tends to get worked around, after which the record is wrong *and* the checklist is theatre. Turn it on only if your governance requires it."

Which risk your hospital accepts is a governance decision. Make it with the people who will be standing in the room.

## What changes once you save

| What you changed                               | What you'll notice                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Added a theatre                                | It becomes assignable when booking a case in [Theatre](/hospital/theatre/list). A case can be booked with **no theatre at all** and assigned one later — "A case can still be booked without one and assigned later." |
| Set a theatre to **Maintenance** or **Closed** | It stops being offered for new bookings. Cases already in it are untouched.                                                                                                                                           |
| Enforcement **on**                             | An incomplete phase now blocks the case advancing, with "This clinic requires the checklist to be completed before continuing."                                                                                       |
| Enforcement **off**                            | The same gap is shown and recorded, and the case continues: "You can continue, and the gap will be recorded."                                                                                                         |
| Edited an item's wording                       | Every screen shows the new wording, including on cases signed off long ago — the record stores which item was confirmed, and the label is resolved when it is read.                                                   |
| Retired an item                                | It disappears from new cases. Historical sign-offs that carry it stay visible, because retiring is not deleting.                                                                                                      |

## Check it worked

Book a test case in [Theatre](/hospital/theatre/list) and confirm your theatres are offered by name. Open its checklist: the phases should read **Sign in**, **Time out** and **Sign out**, with your wording if you customised it. Then try advancing with a phase incomplete — off, you get a warning naming how many items are unconfirmed and can continue; on, the transition is refused.

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="There is no Theatre tab">
    The **Surgical theatre** care area is off — it ships off. Turn it on in Facility and the tab appears alongside the other three.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I can see the tab but cannot add a theatre">
    Changing theatre setup needs owner or manager, and for a staff member whose permissions are enforced it needs "Manage theatres and the safety checklist". Without it the field and the dropdowns are read-only.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I cannot edit the checklist items">
    Until you select **Customise the checklist** the items are the standard form, shown read-only. Customising copies them in and makes each editable.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A case advanced with the checklist incomplete">
    That is the default: the gap was shown and recorded rather than blocked. Turn enforcement on if your governance needs it refused.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I retired an item and it still shows on an old case">
    Deliberately. A sign-off recorded years ago has to stay readable, so retiring takes an item out of new cases without erasing what was confirmed on old ones.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

Setting theatre up for the first time? [Set up theatre](/hospital/get-started/theatre-setup) runs through it in order.

<StillStuck topic="theatre settings" />