Plans for new day surgery hubs one step closer
Over 100,000 patients to be transferred to elective care centres by 2020
Last updated 21st Mar 2019
Plans for the latest shake up of day surgery across Northern Ireland have been announced.
The Department of Health revealed proposals to operate on patients with cataracts and varicose veins in Elective care centres last October.
These have been operational since December.
Today it was revealed the same model will be applied to other specialties including general surgery, gynaecology, ENT, neurology, paediatrics, endoscopy, urology and orthopaedics.
The proposals could see over 100,000 routine operations transferred to new surgery hubs by 2020, in a bid to reduce waiting lists.
Department of Health Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly said: "Dedicated elective care centres are a priority and a key part of tackling hospital waiting times.
"All too often at present, routine surgery has to be postponed because hospital theatres are needed for urgent and emergency cases.
"By creating day surgery hubs on standalone sites away from 24 hour Emergency Departments, we can make our system more productive for the benefit of patients.
"A key issue will be the location of the centres.
"This will inevitably mean that some people will have to travel a bit further for their day surgery, but we will achieve significant and sustainable reductions in the waiting times for the procedures. Previous work suggests service users accept this trade off."
The British Medical Association welcomed the news and said it'll make a real difference in addressing waiting times.
Northern Ireland council chair Tom Black stated that radical action was needed to address the current waiting lists.
"Today’s announcement by the Department of Health is welcome news and shows that the Department is prepared to take action to tackle the issues we have in our healthcare system.
"There has been no positive change in waiting times over the past year and that makes this plan for changes to day surgery and elective care almost inevitable.
"Hopefully these plans will be developed in consultation with our members, and will make a real difference in tackling the pressure on acute services and address waiting times for patients.
“We know our members are frustrated when procedures are cancelled and their patients are let down, with this reorganisation treatment will be better planned and managed and this can only have a positive effect for everyone."