Sponsored by News
Surgeons call for more beds year-round to tackle waiting lists
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) has called for the additional beds opened in hospitals this winter to be retained year-round, to help bring down NHS waiting lists for planned treatment. They have also said some of these beds should be ringfenced for surgery. The call comes as NHS performance data (published on 8 February) shows the waiting list for consultant-led hospital treatment in England fell for the third consecutive month to 7.6 million at the end of December 2023. Some patients are on multiple pathways. The number of unique patients is estimated to
be around 6.4 million, according to NHS England. Patients will be waiting for orthopaedic operations, such as hip and knee replacements, and general surgeries, such as hernia repairs and gallbladder removal. Some patients will also be waiting for surgery to remove cancerous tumours. In December 2021, the total waiting list stood at 6.07 million. The list has risen by more than 1.5 million since then. Responding to the performance data and talking about the need for more beds, Professor Peter Friend, Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said:
“It has been two years since NHS England published its plan for recovering elective care. Despite the incredible efforts of NHS staff, we haven’t seen any significant improvement in waiting times and, today, the list stands at 7.6 million. “RCS England’s workforce census confirmed that this is due in large part to a lack of resources such as operating theatres, nursing and theatre staff, and beds for surgical patients. The establishment of more surgical hubs has introduced much welcome extra capacity, but the reality is, to make a dent in waiting times, we need more. “Patients are still forced to wait too long for
Encouraging improvements in maternity services, says RCM
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has welcomed recognition by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of improvements across the board in women’s experience in maternity care. The CQC’s annual maternity survey also acknowledges the huge pressures midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) are facing.
treatment. The government must put forward funds to make sure additional hospital beds, that have been made available this winter, are retained year- round, with a proportion ringfenced for surgical patients.” NHS England’s delivery plan for recovering
urgent and emergency care services (published in January 2023) committed to introducing 5,000 more staffed, “sustainable beds” in 2023/24 than compared to the originally planned levels of beds in 2022/23. Last month NHS England announced this target had been achieved. RCS England would like to see these beds retained, with some dedicated to patients coming into hospital for planned surgery. RCS England’s recent report, Advancing the
Surgical Workforce: 2023 UK Surgical Workforce Census Report, highlighted a shortage of beds for surgical patients as one of the challenges contributing to long waiting times, in addition to staff shortages and problems accessing operating theatres.
Papworth transforms hospital equipment tracking and traceability
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has selected Idox’s iAssets asset tracking solution to improve patient safety, clinical staff productivity, and overall efficiency. The solution will use GS1- compliant passive RFID tags to enable real-time tracking of all equipment that moves around the hospital.
Designed to deliver a safe, cost-effective way
to track hospital equipment, with Scan4safety and GS1 compliance at its core, iAssets will support the Trust to substantially reduce the time spent
10
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I March 2024
searching for, servicing and auditing equipment and reduce the cost of re-procuring missing assets. With improved equipment traceability, staff have more time to spend with patients, improve asset availability, streamline compliance, and optimise patient care and safety. Initially tracking 11,500 items of medical equipment, the Trust plans to scale the solution beyond medical equipment to include all hospital items that move around the Trust estate, including beds, laptops, pumps and much more.
A survey of over 25,000 women and their families found that they were much more positive about the care they received from midwives than in 2022. Mothers report feeling more informed and better cared for, while partners felt more included. Crucially, there has been a big improvement in the mental healthcare that women and their families receive. The RCM acknowledges that, while the improvements are welcome, there is still more work to do. The RCM’s Chief Executive, Gill Walton, said:
“Putting women at the heart of maternity care may sound obvious, but it may not always be their experience. We are pleased to see things are moving in the right direction, and that is testament to the dedication and hard work of midwives and MSWs. In particular, the improvement in the mental health support women get during pregnancy, especially around the information they receive, is welcome. As we highlighted in our perinatal mental health roadmap published last year, mental ill-health ranks with physical factors as one of the leading causes of maternal deaths in the UK, so this is a positive step. “Of course, there are also areas that need
accelerated improvement. It is worrying to read that a quarter of those surveyed said they weren’t able to get the help they needed during labour and birth. We know that maternity services up and down the country are struggling with staffing levels, and sadly this is a stark reminder of what can happen when you have too few staff. While we welcome the commitments made in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we need to see action, particularly around the retention of skilled, experienced staff.” The RCM is working with the Government and NHS England to highlight areas of good practice around staff recruitment so that these can be replicated in other Trusts.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
