Surgery
can also help reduce waiting times for children. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT has
been offering day surgery to children, expanding its elective care in a specialist paediatric surgical hub, which offers dental, maxillofacial, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, and plastic surgery. This specialist hub was created from an existing surgical hub, creating a pop-up children’s day case pathway and re-routing surgeries from the Royal Preston Hospital. This results in greater numbers of children being treated in the same number of theatre days. It is a model worth emulating. There are many, many more examples of surgical hub successes: l Trafford General Hospital’s Elective Surgical Hub, which carries out approximately 250 procedures a week (13,000 annually).
l A seven day a week gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, vascular, oral, maxillofacial, plastic surgery, and urology hub at Rochdale Infirmary.
l An ear, nose, and throat and orthopaedic surgery hub at Fairfield General Hospital, run by Northern Care Alliance.
l A same-day care provision in an Ambulatory Unit managed by Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, which makes use of an unused operating theatre.
l Chorley and South Ribble Hospital’s hub, which focuses on reducing waiting times for common procedures like cataract surgery.
These hubs are not simple in their design - many of them use state-of-the-art equipment, such as the Ambulatory Unit, and the Cheshire and Merseyside Surgical Centre at Clatterbridge, which uses advanced equipment, such as the £2 million Da Vinci robot, further increasing productivity. Integrating robotics into surgical hubs in this way could be another string to the ever-flexible bow that is the surgical hub. The benefit of surgical hubs for patients has been consistently recorded across various reports and studies, feeding back positive experiences around reduced likelihood of cancelled operations. A 2024 Patients Association webinar, which brought together a representative from the Getting it Right First Time programme and patients who had benefitted from using a surgical hub, shared experiences and suggestions for improvements (no system, however well- designed, can achieve its full potential without continuous feedback and adaptation), including better communication and adequate support around transport and financial assistance.8 Continuous improvement is vital to the success
of surgical hubs, and incorporating feedback into the improvement of the model of surgical hubs is crucial to their long-term success. We need to meet not only operational goals but the personal
and practical needs of patients, ensuring they feel informed, supported and confident in the process. In this way, surgical hubs can become a fundamental part of the NHS; a sustainable, person-centred success story that reflects a commitment to refining healthcare delivery and adaptability. This approach will create a model that can be infinitely replicated and adapted, a scalable solution that meets the needs of an ever-evolving healthcare system. The key to NHS efficiency is not just in reducing waiting lists, it is in providing healthcare to our population as effectively as we should and in a timely fashion. We have not been achieving this, and it is time that changed.
References 1.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ ckgxqnr8yw4o
2.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm- sets-out-plan-to-end-waiting-list-backlogs- through-millions-more-appointments
3.
https://www.mckinsey.com/mhi/our-insights/ adding-years-to-life-and-life-to-years
4.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/ article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00260-0/fulltext
5.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/ PMC10634275/#:~:text=Healthy%20older%20
About the CBS
Launched in November 2018, The Confederation of British Surgery (
www.cbsgb.co.uk) is the first and only trade union to be recognised under UK law to protect the welfare of surgeons, including the extended surgical team and their families. The CBS represents all surgeons, regardless of surgical speciality or affiliation, and negotiates on their behalf the terms and conditions of service, contracts of employment, litigation and insurance. Follow @ UKSurgeons on both Instagram/X.
About the author
Peter Sedman is an Executive Board member at the Confederation of British Surgery. He is also the Medical Director for the Department of Cardiology in Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and has been a Consultant Gastrointestinal and General Surgeon in Hull since 1996. His principal clinical interest is in laparoscopic surgery. Peter currently serves on the Education Committee of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons and is the surgical representative on the Yorkshire NHS Senate. Previous positions include: Minimal Access Tutor at the Royal College of Surgeons of England; President of the Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland; Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of Hull’s sole private hospital.
May 2025 I
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 39
adults%20were%20reported,rest%20 %5B16%2C%2017%5D.
6.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/ north-west/2024/10/10/patients- young-and-old-reaping-the-benefits- of-surgical-hub-programme-as-new-report- highlights-impact-on-tackling-waiting-lists/
7.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2022/ waiting-lists-in-england-set-to-triple
8.
https://www.patients-association.org.uk/ spotlight-on-patient-partnership-in-elective- surgery-ppw2023
CSJ
romaset -
stock.adobe.com
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
