Well being and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay’s Crimson Field Op-Ed

Yesterday I visited Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, the place employees have considerably ramped up the variety of cataract operations they’ll do in a single week – thanks to 2 of the 91 surgical hubs which are already enabling our NHS to hold out extra operations rapidly and effectively below one roof.

I need to reassure Occasions readers who’re ready for important operations, or have a good friend or cherished one who’s, that we’re taking motion. At the moment, I introduced that tons of of 1000’s of individuals throughout the nation will profit from greater than 50 new surgical hubs, backed by £1.5 billion of presidency funding, to assist us bust the Covid backlog.

To this point, areas for 16 of those new hubs have been confirmed and present hubs are being expanded with new amenities. Bids for the remaining hubs can be thought-about over the approaching weeks and months.

From the Midlands to the South West, these new hubs can be situated on present hospital websites, rushing up the ready occasions for widespread operations similar to cataract surgical procedures and hip replacements that make up a big a part of the ready listing.

For instance, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Basis Belief is utilizing its surgical hubs to cut back the size of time that sufferers present process hip and knee replacements keep in hospital by about two days — which means extra individuals can recuperate within the consolation of their very own residence the day after surgical procedure.

Crucially, these new surgical hubs will ship nearly two million further routine operations over the subsequent three years – increasing on the progress we’re already making.

Because of the onerous work of NHS employees, waits of over two years for routine remedy have already been just about eradicated, the primary goal set out in our elective restoration plan. There has additionally been a drop of virtually one third in individuals ready 18 months or extra for care since January.

These new hubs will assist us preserve this momentum and guarantee extra individuals can entry life-changing operations extra rapidly.