Bid to move NUH services to cut pandemic delays
HOSPITALS COULD MAKE CHANGE BY OCTOBER
NOTTINGHAM hospitals may move services between sites to cut waiting times and cancellations linked to the pandemic.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) papers reveal that the colorectal and hepatobiliary service could be moved from the Queen’s Medical Centre to the City Hospital in the autumn.
The colorectal service treats disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon.
Hepatobiliary relates to the liver, bile ducts, and gallbladder.
The proposed move would affect around 900 patients a year and potentially an extra 100-150 patients requiring more complex intestinal care.
The latest statistics, published this month, show 68,461 patients overall were waiting for treatment from services across NUH in May.
A total of 64.9 per cent of those patients were seen within 18 weeks. The NHS standard is 92 per cent.
Neighbouring hospitals had larger waiting lists – as of May at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, 60.2 per cent of patients were seen within 18 weeks, and a total of 96,068 were on the waiting list.
Leicester NHS Trust also had 122,981 patients on the waiting list and 49.8 per cent were seen within 18 weeks.
The move comes as NUH has secured £15 million of NHS funding to increase elective surgery at its City Hospital site through extra theatres and ward beds.
Wider plans for the trust through the Tomorrow’s NUH programme will see City Hospital transformed into a “centre of excellence for elective care”.
The current elective service is co-located with emergency theatre provision, leading to “cancellations and longer waits for elective patients”.
NHS papers state: “It is felt that the need to act urgently to secure this additional external capital funding, and therefore avoid further long waits for citizens and the associated harm this would entail, outweighs the benefits from consulting on this proposal.”
The papers add that following the pandemic, “elective activity has not yet increased to the levels required to treat current backlogs and manage current demand”.
NUH now wishes to “proceed at pace” to relocate the services by October.
Nottinghamshire county councillors will get the chance to have their say on the plans at the health scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday.
The scheme is part of wider NHS plans to tackle waiting lists which requires trusts to “deliver activity at 110 per cent of pre-covid levels in 2022/23, increasing to 130 per cent by 2024/25”.
Some staff – including nurses, therapies and pharmacy – have been given the option of whether to move with the elective service to City Hospital or remain at QMC.
Specialist nurses and medical staff will move with the service.
The papers added: “The aim of this proposal is to protect elective capacity year-round and begin to reduce the backlog.
“NUH have requested the movement of a small number of services from QMC to City in advance of future wider scale proposals related to TNUH and any further potential changes enabled by the national funding to develop an ‘elective hub’ for the system.
“The proposal will create additional beds, theatre capacity and will segregate routine elective capacity away from urgent care demand.”
If approved, views would be sought through public engagement, instead of a full public consultation.