New elective surgery hub to go ahead in Hampshire
Patients in Basingstoke and Andover will have option of using it
Hampshire’s new elective hub has been given the green light and building work at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital (RHCH) in Winchester will now begin.
The new elective hub will provide more capacity and allow more operations to take place therefore improving access to elective surgery and reducing the elective backlog across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Adults across Hampshire and Isle of Wight who require operations for orthopaedics (such as hip and knee replacements) will be eligible to attend the new elective hub. Operations taking place at the hub would be in addition to surgery already taking place at our hospitals across Hampshire & the Isle of Wight.
The hub will deliver an additional 2,400 procedures each year, will operate six days a week with consultants from both University Hospital Southampton and Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust operating on their patients in the Hub.
Julie Maskery, Strategic Projects Director at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:
“The elective hub will provide a new way of working for orthopaedic surgery and we are delighted that we have had the final approval for the elective hub as it will benefit many people across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
“The building work for the hub will involve refurbishing a floor within the Burrell building in the Royal Hampshire County Hospital to create two theatres and the associated inpatient facilities. The elective hub is due to open in April 2025 and we look forward to welcoming our first patients.”
The enabling work is already underway and the programme is collaborating with the contractor Integrated Health Projects (IHP) and AD Architects to develop the building specification.
Outpatient facility
At the same time as building the new elective hub, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will also be commencing the construction of a new orthopaedic outpatient facility at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.
The new department will provide eight outpatient rooms; a co-located plain film x-ray service with an adjacent treatment room; and four fracture clinic assessment booths with an adjacent two bay plaster room. Activities delivered in the Orthopaedic Outpatient Facility will include:
Specialist advice and support, clinical consultation, diagnosis, and treatment planning and delivery for orthopaedic patients.
Therapy consultation, diagnosis and treatment in conjunction with a multi-disciplinary Allied Health team, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and dietetics.
The “one-stop” model will also reduce the number of follow-up appointments by delivering the care patients need in just one appointment, with teams working side by side.
Positive step forward
Dr Lara Alloway, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight said:
“These two developments will provide a significant benefit to our residents and is a positive step forward in reducing our backlog for elective surgeries. Waits for orthopaedic surgery is one of the biggest challenges across Hampshire, so by using the hub to focus on our orthopaedic patients, we can work in partnership to reduce the waiting times for surgery.
“We are working hard to improve our services and we are confident that the elective hub and the new orthopaedic outpatient facility will play a significant role in achieving this.”