Royal Bolton Hospital's expansion plan has been hailed as one the most innovative in the region for tackling surgery backlogs.
This comes after plans were announced to expand the hospital’s operating theatre complex to help treat more people and tackle the backlog of patients waiting for surgery.
Already there are no more patients waiting more than two years with just 150 waiting for more than 18 months at Royal Bolton, which has now been noticed by the NHS at regional level.
NHS England North West medical director Dr Michael Gregory said: “Reducing the longest waits is great progress and it is testament to the hard work and commitment of NHS staff across the North West who have shown the same drive and tenacity in tackling the waiting lists of patients that has built up during the pandemic as they showed over the last few years.
“However, we know there are significant numbers of patients still waiting to be seen and while we have now seen almost all of those waiting the longest, the hard work does not stop here.”
The proposed new theatre complex
Two-year waiting lists in Bolton have fallen from 174 in March this year to none, while 18-month waiting lists have fallen from 750 patients last October to just 150.
But this left 10,069 people waiting 52 weeks for surgery as of July, which trust managers hope an expanded theatre complex will help to address.
- Royal Bolton plans major expansion to tackle waiting times and surgery backlog
- Bolton medics 'working tirelessly' to dramatically reduce two-year waiting list
The new theatre will connect the the hospital’s existing urology block to the operating theatres already in place and will also allow the hospital to refurbish existing theatres so they can host operations for 52 weeks of the year rather than 48 as they do currently.
Royal Bolton’s plan was held up by NHS North West as an example of how the backlog tackled.
Others include Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital’s service for children seeking ear, nose throat and dental surgery and an electronic referral service between GPs and hospitals across Greater Manchester.
Mr Gregory said: “The innovation across the region in tackling this problem has really shown the NHS at its best."
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