Northumberland's hospital trust carries out more than 2,000 planned ops since Covid rules eased

Northumberland’s NHS trust has carried out more than 2,000 planned operations since Covid-19 restrictions eased.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals in Northumberland and North Tyneside, postponed non-urgent operations in March due to the pandemic.

But it restarted its planned surgery as soon as it could in May – with strict measures in place to ensure the safety of patients and staff – to prevent people from having to wait any longer.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since restrictions on hospitals were eased, the trust has carried out a range of elective procedures in a range of areas including orthopaedics, such as hip and knee replacements, general and gynaecological surgery.

Heaxham General Hospital.Heaxham General Hospital.
Heaxham General Hospital.

This has resulted in Northumbria Healthcare currently being among the top performers in England in relation to referral to treatment performance, which is based on the number of patients who have their treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

James Golding, a consultant anaesthetist and deputy business unit director of surgery at the trust, said: “While postponing our elective operations was a necessary part of our well-planned response to the coronavirus pandemic, restarting them as soon as we could was a key component of our recovery and getting our hospitals functioning as near as normal as possible.

“Even though these operations are not classed as urgent, they are extremely important to patients and can really make a difference to how someone can live their life.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“A lot of work has gone into making this happen and there are, of course, extra measures we have to take to make sure everyone is safe, but it’s extremely important for our trust to be able to do this in order to provide the best care and outcomes for our patients.”

Alongside postponing planned operations at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals in Northumberland could not hold outpatient clinics as normal and started to hold these virtually and over the telephone.

Since the beginning of March, more than 67,000 non-face-to-face appointments have been held, meaning patients travelled 1.1million miles less than they did in the same period two years ago.

Grandmother Maureen Oliver is one patient to be operated on recently, within weeks of seeing a consultant for the first time at the end of July. She had been struggling with pain in her hip for more than a year and had a total hip replacement at Hexham General Hospital.

The 69-year-old said: “With everything that has been going on with Covid, I didn’t have any expectations of when I’d be able to have my operation so it’s absolutely marvellous that I was able to have it so quickly.

“I’m really impressed that Northumbria Healthcare has got things back up and running as quickly as they have – I know people in other parts of the country who have been waiting for a very long time with no prospect of getting a date.

“I’m extremely grateful for what I’ve had done and I felt safe all the time I was in hospital. I urge people to attend planned appointments and treatments, there is no need to delay.”

This year and during lockdown, the problems with her hip had got so bad for Maureen, from Wylam, that she could barely walk.

Now pain-free, she’s hoping to get back to walking and swimming and regaining a much higher quality of life.

“I’m thrilled to bits being pain-free and really looking forward to going outside and having a proper walk,” she said.

Dr Golding added: “I urge anyone with a planned hospital appointment or treatment to please attend and don’t delay. Feedback we are getting from patients, like Maureen, is that they feel very safe while in hospital.”