Surgical centre to cut waiting lists
A surgical centre that will be able to perform thousands of orthopaedic procedures a year will open in November.
The £9.4m Elective Orthopaedic Centre (EOC) in Central Middlesex Hospital will help reduce a waiting list of more than 16,000 patients that has built up across nine hospital sites in north-west London.
The EOC will focus on ‘high volume, low complexity’ bone and joint procedures, such as knee and hip replacements leaving its counterparts to focus on more complex procedures whose patients need more care.
Matt Bartlett, Medical Director of the EOC and an orthopaedic surgeon, said: “A similar model in south London has proved very successful and it is all about providing a faster more effective service.
“We’re working hard to reduce waiting lists but orthopaedic procedures involving bones and joints make up more a quarter of all NHS operations.”
The improvement works will include two new operating theatres, a larger recovery unit and remodelling part of the existing hospital site.
Patients pre and post-operative care will remain in their local hospitals with their surgeons travelling to the EOC to undertake their procedures.
LNWH CEO Pippa Nightingale added: “It is about delivering the best possible care to our patients and being the best we can be.
“Our performance for clinical outcomes and patient experience is among the best in the country but there is room for improvement. We are focused on where we need to be and that is half the battle.”
The building works coincide with several other building projects at LNWH including a 32-bed unit at Northwick Park and a £30m Clinical Diagnostic Centre at Ealing Hospital.