Over 50 new surgical hubs set to open across England to help bust the COVID-19 backlogs
Over 50 new surgical hubs will open across the country to help bust the COVID-19 backlogs and offer hundreds of thousands more patients quicker access to procedures.
- Over 50 new surgical hubs will provide at least 100 more operating theatres and 1,000 more beds to deliver millions more operations
- These beds and theatres will help reduce waiting times and offer patients access to vital operations
- Beds will be ring-fenced for planned operations, reducing the risk of short-notice cancellations
Over 50 new surgical hubs will open across the country to help bust the COVID-19 backlogs and offer hundreds of thousands more patients quicker access to vital procedures, the Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay has announced today.
These hubs will provide at least 100 more operating theatres and over 1,000 beds so people get the surgery they need. They will deliver almost 2 million extra routine operations to reduce waiting lists over the next 3 years, backed by £1.5 billion in government funding. This breaks down to over 200,000 extra procedures in 2022 to 2023, over 700,000 extra procedures in 2023 to 2024, and 1 million extra procedures by 2024 to 2025.
They will focus mainly on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as previously recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, with particular emphasis on ophthalmology, general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics (including spinal surgery), gynaecology, ear nose and throat, and urology.
Located on existing hospital sites, surgical hubs bring together skills and expertise of staff under one roof – reducing waiting times for some of the most common procedures such as cataract surgeries and hip replacements. These operations can be performed quickly and effectively in one place. Improving quality and efficiency will mean patients have shorter waits for surgery, will be more likely to go home on the same day, and will be less likely to need additional treatment after surgery.
As the hubs are separated from emergency services, surgical beds are kept free for patients waiting for planned operations, reducing the risk of short-notice cancellations and improving infection control.
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:
In order to bust the COVID-19 backlogs and keep pace with future demands, we can’t simply have business as usual. Surgical hubs are a really tangible example of how we are already innovating and expanding capacity to fill surgical gaps right across the country, to boost the number of operations and reduce waiting times for vital procedures.
We have already made progress in tackling the longest waiting lists to offer patients quicker access to treatment, and these new surgical hubs will in their own right deliver additional operations over the next 3 years, including over 200,000 this year alone.
NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, said:
Surgical hubs are a vital part of plans to recover elective services across England and these new sites will be a welcome boost in helping us to further tackle the COVID-19 backlogs that have inevitably built up over the pandemic.
The NHS has made significant progress already, virtually eliminating 2 year waits for care by the end of July and from surgical hubs to robotic surgery, our staff continue to find innovative ways to speed up care for patients.
The hubs will also help address variation in performance between trusts, as they are required to meet national standards on numbers of operations, the full use of theatre facilities, and ensuring patients are discharged on the same day as their operation. All of this will help to drive up performance across the country.
The government has worked with the NHS to identify which areas will benefit most from surgical hubs. The selection process for surgical hub locations is clinically led and aims to ensure the new hubs are connected to the right local services – such as acute hospital sites – and tackle local healthcare inequalities while promoting the best outcomes for patients and delivering value for taxpayers.
So far, locations for 20 new or expanded hubs have already been confirmed, and bids for the remaining hubs are set to be considered over the coming weeks and months as more business cases are received to determine the new sites meet design standards.
The new hubs will offer a mix of outpatient and admitted (including overnight or day case) surgeries, delivering nearly 2 million additional procedures over the next 3 years, equal to 12% of all elective activity in 2019 to 2020. They will encourage the most efficient forms of surgeries, ensuring that fewer patients are kept overnight and saving more time to carry out additional operations.
Currently, 91 surgical hubs have already been opened, meaning that in total more than 140 hubs will be open across England by 2024 to 2025. This includes:
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the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre contains 5 state-of-the-art operating theatres and accepts patients from all over the UK. It performs approximately 5,200 procedures a year, 3,000 of which are joint replacements
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another hub at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has increased surgical capacity by 25%, with improvement plans now in place to significantly reduce cancellations
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United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has cut down the length of stay for patients undergoing hip and knee replacements, resulting in an average reduction of 2 days and allowing more people to go home the day after surgery
The government has committed £5.9 billion in capital investment to support elective recovery in the coming years. Along with surgical hubs, the NHS is changing the way diagnostic services are delivered by opening over 90 community diagnostic centres across the country in locations such as football stadiums and shopping centres.
They have already delivered over 1.6 million checks, tests and scans, offering patients a range of healthcare services closer to home. By 2025, up to 160 will be up and running.
Thanks to these innovative approaches, significant progress has already been made in tackling waiting lists. Earlier this month, the NHS announced that waits of over 2 years for routine treatment have been virtually eliminated, except where patients chose to wait longer, did not want to travel to be seen faster, or for very complex cases requiring specialist treatment.
This was the first target set out in the Elective Recovery Plan in February and NHS staff continue to make progress on reducing long waits – with a drop of almost one third in people waiting 18 months or more for care since January.
Background
The surgical hubs are funded as part of the £1.5 billion allocated at the Spending Review in 2021. This funding is also upgrading existing hubs.
Regional breakdown of projected additional activity and funding:
| Region | Funding | Cumulative elective activity (2022 to 2023 and 2024 to 2025) | Cumulative outpatient activity (2022 to 2023 and 2024 to 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| East of England | £189 million | 75,000 | 10,900 |
| London | £265 million | 155,600 | 207,800 |
| Midlands | £288 million | 151,700 | 98,300 |
| North East and Yorkshire (NEY) | £230 million | 120,200 | 83,200 |
| North West | £188 million | 153,400 | 70,300 |
| South East | £218 million | 181,300 | 125,200 |
| South West | £170 million | 50,700 | 1,700 |
Elective activity refers to day cases and overnights. Outpatients is non-admitted activity, such as, a procedure that would only be under local anaesthetic.
The additional and expanded 20 hubs announced today are here:
| Region | Location | New or expansion |
|---|---|---|
| London | North Middlesex Hospital | New |
| London | Western Eye Hospital | New |
| London | Purley (Croydon University Hospital) | New |
| London | University Hospital Lewisham | New |
| London | St Thomas’ Hospital | New |
| London | The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (Stanmore) | New |
| London | King George Hospital | New |
| London | Homerton University Hospital | New |
| London | Various locations across North Central London (Moorfields) | New |
| NEY | Friarage Hospital | New |
| NEY | St. Luke’s Hospital | New |
| NEY | Dewsbury and District Hospital | New |
| East | Addenbrooke’s Hospital | New |
| East | Ipswich Hospital | New |
| East | Colchester General Hospital | New |
| North West | Whiston Hospital | New |
| London | Newham General Hospital | Expansion |
| London | Central Middlesex Hospital | Expansion |
| Midlands | Princess Royal Hospital | Expansion |
| North West | Westmorland General Hospital | Expansion |
The 91 surgical hubs currently operational are:
| Region | NHS trust | Hub name | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North West | Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS FT | Clatterbridge Hospital | ||
| North West | Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust | NCA Childrens Hub - Royal Oldham Hospital | ||
| North West | Pennine Acute Hospital NHS Trust | Fairfield General Hospital | ||
| North West | Manchester University NHS foundation trust | Trafford Hospital - Elective Hub | ||
| North West | Wrightington,Wigan and Leigh NHS FT | Wrightington Hospital (GM Specialist Orthopaedic Centre) | ||
| North West | Manchester University NHS FT | Withington Hospital | ||
| North West | Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS FT | Blackpool Victoria Hospital (Ophthalmology Surgical Unit) | ||
| North West | Lancaster Teaching Hospital NHS FT | Chorley and South Ribble Hospital | ||
| North West | East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust | Burnley General Hospital | ||
| North West | East Lancashire Hospital NHS Trust | Royal Blackburn Hospital | ||
| North West | University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS FT | Westmorland General Hospital | ||
| NEY | Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT | Alnwick Infirmary | ||
| NEY | Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT | North Tyneside General Hospital | ||
| NEY | Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT | Wansbeck General Hospital | ||
| NEY | Northumbria Healthcare NHS FT | Hexham General Hospital | ||
| NEY | North Tees and Hartlepool NHS FT | University Hospital of Hartlepool | ||
| NEY | Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Castle Hill Hospital | ||
| NEY | York Teaching Hospital NHS FT | Bridlington and District Hospital | ||
| NEY | Harrogate and District NHS FT | Harrogate and District NHS FT | ||
| NEY | Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS FT | Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital | ||
| NEY | Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS FT | Goole and District Hospital | ||
| NEY | Barnsley Hospital NHS FT | Barnsley Hospital | ||
| NEY | Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT | Northern General Hospital (Sheffield DSU) | ||
| NEY | Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT | Northern General Hospital (Balborough Treatment Centre - Sheffield Hand Centre) | ||
| NEY | Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT | Northern General Hospital - Ophthalmology | ||
| NEY | Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS FT | Calderdale Royal Hospital | ||
| NEY | Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS FT | Calderdale Royal Hospital | ||
| NEY | Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Chapel Allerton Hospital | ||
| NEY | Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Wharfedale Hospital | ||
| Midlands | The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS FT | Royal Orthopaedic Hospital - Surgical Centre | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals Birmingham NHS FT | Solihull Hospital Elective Hub | ||
| Midlands | Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | Walsall Manor Hospital | ||
| Midlands | The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | Cannock Chase Hospital | ||
| Midlands | Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust | Birmingham Treatment Centre (City Hospital) | ||
| Midlands | George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | George Eliot Hospital - Day Proc Unit and Day Case Theatres | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | University Hospital (Coventry) - Rugby | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | University Hospital (Coventry) - University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Day Surgery Unit | ||
| Midlands | South Warwickshire NHS FT | SWFT Warwick Hospital | ||
| Midlands | South Warwickshire NHS FT | Stratford Day Case | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS FT | Ilkeston Community Hospital | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS FT | Sir Robert Peel (SRP) Community Hospital | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS FT | Burton Hospital Treatment Centre | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS FT | Kings Treatment, Royal Derby Hospital | ||
| Midlands | Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | Alexandra Hospital Elective Hub | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust | Glenfield Hospital - Elective Hub | ||
| Midlands | University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust | LLR Alliance Community Hospital - Elective Hub | ||
| Midlands | United Lincolnshire Hospital NHS Trust | Grantham and District Hospital - Elective Surgical Hub | ||
| Midlands | Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS FT | Newark Hospital (King’s Mill Hospital) - Elective Hub | ||
| Midlands | The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | Royal Shrewsbury Hospital - Cataract Suite (Copthorne Building) | ||
| East of England | Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT | CUH at Princess of Wales Hospital | ||
| East of England | Cambridge University Hospitals NHS FT | Addenbrooke’s Hospital (Cambridge Eye Unit) | ||
| East of England | West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust | St Albans City Hospital Elective Hub | ||
| East of England | Mid and South Essex NHS FT | Braintree Community Hospital | ||
| London | St George’s University Hospitals NHS FT | St George’s at Queen Mary’s Hospital | ||
| London | Croydon Health Services NHS Trust | Croydon University Hospital | ||
| London | Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust | South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre | ||
| London | King’s College Hospital NHS FT | Orpington Hospital | ||
| London | Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust | Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup | ||
| London | London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust | Central Middlesex Hospital | ||
| London | Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | Charing Cross Hospital | ||
| London | Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT | Chelsea and Westminister | ||
| London | The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS FT | Hillingdon - Mount Vernon Treatment centre | ||
| London | Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT | West Middlesex Elective Hub | ||
| London | Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust | Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital | ||
| London | University College London Hospitals NHS FT | UCLH - Grafton Way | ||
| London | Royal Free London NHS FT | Chase Farm Hospital | ||
| London | Moorefields Eye Hospital NHS FT | Moorfield Eye Hospital - St Ann’s | ||
| London | Moorefields Eye Hospital NHS FT | Moorfield Eye Hospital - City Road | ||
| London | Royal Free London NHS FT | Edgware Community Hospital | ||
| London | Whittington Health NHS Trust | The Whittington Hospital | ||
| London | Barts Health NHS Trust | Whipps Cross - Plane Tree | ||
| London | Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust | King George Ilford - Queens Hospital | ||
| London | Barts Health NHS Trust | Newham General Hospital - BHOC | ||
| London | Homerton University Hospital NHS FT | Homerton University Hospital | ||
| South West | Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS FT | Sulis Hospital - Bath - Elective Surgery Hub | ||
| South West | Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust | Royal Cornwall - St Michael’s Elective Hub | ||
| South West | Royal Devon and Exeter NHS FT | Nightingale Hospital Exeter - Elective Surgery Centre | ||
| South West | University Hospitals Dorset NHS FT | Christchurch Hospital - Dermatology Unit | ||
| South East | Royal Berkshire NHS FT | West Berkshire Community Hospital | ||
| South East | Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust | Wycombe Hospital | ||
| South East | Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT | Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) | ||
| South East | Royal Berkshire NHS FT | King Edward Vii Hospital (Prince of Wales) | ||
| South East | Frimley Health NHS FT | Heatherwood Hospital | ||
| South East | University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust | Lymington Hospital | ||
| South East | Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust | Queen Alexandra Hospital | ||
| South East | Hampshire Hospitals NHS FT | Andover War Memorial Hospital | ||
| South East | Hampshire Hospitals NHS FT | Basingstoke General Hospital | ||
| South East | Hampshire Hospitals NHS FT | Winchester County Hospital | ||
| South East | Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Maidstone Hospital | ||
| South East | Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital NHS FT | Ashford Hospital | ||
| South East | University Hospitals Sussex NHS FT | Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre |
Last updated 26 August 2022 + show all updates
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Press notice amended to include additional table showing the 91 surgical hubs currently operational.
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First published.