New surgical unit to reduce patient waiting times

In an aim to reduce the time patients are waiting for planned operations, a new surgical unit has been developed at Broadgreen Hospital and is now fully operational for patients across Cheshire and Merseyside.

The High Volume Low Complexity (HVLC) Unit aims to treat around 200 patients a month that are undergoing planned, low complexity procedures, focussing on specialities such as orthopaedics, general surgery, urology and ear, nose and throat.

As more patients are treated in the new unit, it will freeup space in the existing main theatres at Broadgreen, allowing an increased number of patients who require high complexity, longer surgery cases to undergo their operations.

Harry Rourke, Broadgreen Medical Director, said: "This regional surgical unit allows us to treat patients requiring local anaesthetic surgery in a state-of-the-art facility that minimises patient anxiety and the amount of time they spend in hospital. These patients are more likely to be able to go home on the same day, which means they have a better patient experience.

“By moving local anaesthetic cases from our main theatres, it also allows us to do more hip and knee replacements, which is really good news for our patients who are waiting for these surgeries which will make such a difference to their lives.”

This HVLC surgical hub was created in partnership with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and NHS England, as part of a programme supporting the recovery of elective (planned) care services post COVID-19 pandemic. The target is to reduce the number of patients waiting for planned operations in the region, improve clinical outcomes and access to services through standardised clinical pathways.