Local surgical centers, new technologies to accelerate diagnosis and innovative ways of working will help the NHS cope with growing waiting lists and treat around 30% more patients in need of elective treatment by 2023/24.
Backed by a new £ 36 billion investment in health and social care over the next 3 years, “doing things differently” and innovation will be the driving force behind getting the NHS back on track.
Funding will result in the NHS performing an additional 9 million check-ups, scans and surgeries for patients across the country, but it’s not enough to simply fill in the electoral gaps. The NHS will promote faster, more efficient treatments.
Surgical centers, already piloted in a number of locations including London, are helping to speed up the number of operations planned, including cataract removal, hysterectomies, and hip and knee replacements, and are expanding across the country. Located in existing hospital locations, surgical centers combine skills and resources under one roof while limiting the risk of infection and providing a COVID-19 safe environment. More are to be opened in the coming year.
Health and Welfare Minister Sajid Javid said:
This global pandemic has posed enormous challenges for the NHS and has led to a growing backlog – we cannot continue as usual.
We will leverage the latest technology and innovative new ways of working like surgical centers to perform the millions more appointments, treatments and surgeries that will be needed in the months and years to come to meet waiting lists. “
Professor Steve Powis, NHS England Medical Director, said:
Although the pandemic is still with us and we will have to live with the effects of Covid for some time, the NHS has already used additional resources effectively to restore services – from introducing the latest technology to doing more evening and weekend work, NHS The staff goes to great lengths to increase the number of operations performed.
The additional funding announced this week will help staff conduct millions more critical checks, tests, and surgeries. So if you have any health concerns, please get in touch for the care and treatment you may need. “
The NHS has tested a number of new ways of working in 12 areas, with £ 160m in support to expedite the restoration of services. These include setting up pop-up clinics so that patients can be treated quickly, face-to-face and closer to home, as well as virtual wards and home examinations so that patients can get medical assistance from the comfort of their own home and beds become vacant in hospitals.
General Practices use artificial intelligence to prioritize patients in greatest need and determine the right level of care and support for patients on waiting lists.
Employing the latest technology and locally led innovation will increase efficiency, every penny count and increase activity levels to deal with rising backlogs. Important examples are:
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Moorfields Eye Hospital has successfully deployed surgical centers to reduce the time cataract patients spend in hospital to around 90 minutes and performed 725 surgeries in a week for equipment and staff changeover times.
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Surgical robots are used at Milton Keynes Hospital to perform more complex surgeries with faster recovery times for patients, less time in the hospital and less risk of infection. It was the first hospital in Europe to use the Versius Surgical Robotic System for major gynecological operations, including complex cancer cases.
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A project started in Coventry is helping the West Midlands Ambulance Service of frail patients and has seen the number of people over 80 hospitalized falling by 20%, although they could have been better cared for elsewhere.
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The Doncaster Bassetlaw Hospitals Trust operates a cardio drive-through service as part of the Hospital at Home program. Patients drive to Doncaster Royal Infirmary or Montagu Hospital and receive an EKG cardiac monitor from a staff member. The new drive-through service will allow more heart checks to be performed daily, around 100 per week, freeing up space in the hospital for critical tests that need to be done face-to-face.
The latest cancer tests, used across the NHS, also help speed diagnosis and detect cancer early, and thanks to the hard work of staff, a quarter of a million people were screened for cancer in June – the second highest number in history and more than 27,000 people began treatment for cancer in the same period.
There is currently a record 5.5 million people waiting for non-urgent treatment and surgery, and around seven million patients in England did not come forward for treatment during the pandemic. The waiting list could potentially reach 13 million by the end of the year if left unchecked and it could take up to a decade for the NHS to clear treatment backlogs without concerted action.
The new UK investment of $ 36 billion
The NHS will receive an additional £ 5.4 billion over the next 6 months to aid its response to COVID-19. That includes £ 1 billion on top of dealing with the COVID-19 backlog, £ 2.8 billion to cover related costs such as increased infection control measures to protect staff and patients from the virus, and £ 478 million to continue the hospital discharge program Beds up.
The additional 5.4 billion
It’s also in addition to the historic long-term settlement for the NHS, enshrined in law, which sees NHS funding increasing by £ 33.9 billion from 2023 to 2024 under the NHS long-term plan.
The health service will come up with a delivery schedule to address the backlog to give people confidence that the money invested will produce results.
