More than 50 surgical hubs are set to open across England, with the aim of helping to bust the Covid backlogs, by giving hundreds of thousands of patients faster access to procedures.
The plans are set to provide at least 100 more operating theatres and 1,000 more beds, to help reduce waiting times. They are expected to deliver around 2 million extra routine operations over the next three years.
As recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the plans will focus on providing high-volume, low-complexity surgery, with an emphasis on ophthalmology, general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics (including spinal surgery), gynaecology, ear nose and throat, and urology. The aim is to reduce waiting times for common procedures such as cataract surgery and hip replacements.
The surgical hubs will be located on existing hospital sites. Surgical beds will be kept free for patients waiting for planned operations, to reduce the risk of short-notice cancellations and improve infection control.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: "In order to bust the COVID-19 backlogs and keep pace with future demands, we can’t simply have business as usual. Surgical hubs are a really tangible example of how we are already innovating and expanding capacity to fill surgical gaps right across the country, to boost the number of operations and reduce waiting times for vital procedures.
"We have already made progress in tackling the longest waiting lists to offer patients quicker access to treatment, and these new surgical hubs will in their own right deliver additional operations over the next 3 years, including over 200,000 this year alone."
NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, said: "Surgical hubs are a vital part of plans to recover elective services across England and these new sites will be a welcome boost in helping us to further tackle the COVID-19 backlogs that have inevitably built up over the pandemic.
"The NHS has made significant progress already, virtually eliminating 2 year waits for care by the end of July and from surgical hubs to robotic surgery, our staff continue to find innovative ways to speed up care for patients."
The NHS and government have been working together to work out which areas will benefit most from surgical hubs. The selection process will be clinically led and will ensure the hubs are connected to local services. 20 locations for new or expanded hubs have already been confirmed, with bids for the remaining hubs to be considered over the next few weeks and months.
91 hubs have already opened. By 2025, there will be more than 140 surgical hubs in England, including the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre, which contains five operating theatres and accepts patients from all over the UK. It performs approximately 5,200 procedures a year, 3,000 of which are joint replacements. A hub at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has increased surgical capacity by 25%, with improvement plans now in place to significantly reduce cancellations.
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