More patients are having surgery at Goole and District Hospital and going home on the same day thanks to a new approach developed by medical teams at two local NHS trusts.
From last month, suitable patients in orthopaedics and urology have been able to have their operation at Goole and get up and about a couple of hours after they have left the operating theatre.
This has enabled them to start their recovery quicker so they have been able to go home without having to stay in the hospital overnight.
Kerry Owen, Outpatient Department and Surgery and Critical Care Matron at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG), said: “Research shows patients recover better from surgery in their own homes with their home comforts and families around them.
“Whilst this isn’t suitable for all patients, when it is appropriate we have been working with our teams to make sure we can support patients in and out of the hospital on the same day. This has also enabled more operations to take place and patients to be seen sooner.”
The work is part of a plan developed by staff at NLaG and Hull University Hospital Trust (HUTH) to treat more patients and reduce waiting lists in some areas of work. The plan has been to set up a Surgical Hub site so patients from across the Humber area can have their operation at Goole even if it is not their nearest hospital, meaning they will get their operation more quickly.
Since 7 August, the theatres at GDH have been available for use for both NLaG and HUTH operating teams to undertake hip and knee replacements and low complexity urology operations five days a week. In the first four weeks 44 orthopaedic patients have had their operation done following this change of approach and, of those, six patients have been able to go home on the same day. Another 30 patients have been able to go home the day after their surgery.
One of those six same day patients was Kathleen Bruce from Epworth in North Lincolnshire. She said: “The whole team are amazing, they really put me at ease and nothing was too much trouble for them. I was worried about going home the same day but they put my mind at ease and it was fine.
“I was given lots of information, including contact numbers, when I went home and I received a call the next day which was very efficient and helped to answer any questions I had. I would not hesitate to come back to Goole Hospital if I needed to.”
Collaborative working between NLaG and HUTH teams has been crucial to getting the new approach launched and working so well.
Mr Ricardo Pacheco, a Consultant Surgeon at NLaG, said: “I am immensely proud of what our joint teams have been able to achieve in the first few weeks. We know getting patients up and about swiftly when they have a knee or hip replacement can really help them recover more quickly.
“We have been working to be able to reduce the length of time many patients stay in the hospital since last October and now working to develop this new pathway and to have some patients go home on the same day has been fantastic.
“We need to keep learning and refining what we do so we can see and treat even more patients and start to give them back their quality of life after living with pain and hearing their feedback has been extremely positive.”
Mr Tom Symes, Clinical Lead for Orthopaedics at HUTH, added: “Having this Surgical Hub at Goole means patients in Hull can get seen and operated on more quickly than waiting for an operation at Castle Hill Hospital or Hull Royal Infirmary. Working together on projects like this is the way we need to go if we are to help more patients across our area get the operations they need. I’m looking forward to seeing the project build in the weeks and months ahead.”
Kerry concluded: “All the team have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are now. Patients have already seen the benefits and more will as we continue with this work.
“Hearing comments like those from Kathleen and others have made it all worthwhile. We know this approach works and we are committed to continuing this patient pathway, we have great facilities and staff at Goole, all enhancing the service that we offer.”
