Heartbeat: Service transformation and Midland Met – spotlight on day case surgery
April 27, 2022
Our Trust delivers care to a diverse local population with patients treated at Sandwell, City and Rowley Regis Hospitals, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, Birmingham Treatment Centre, Lyng Centre and Leasowes Intermediate Care Centre. Plus, our community teams provide integrated services in GP practices and at home as well as for children in schools.
Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) is our new hospital, currently under construction, and once once open will bring together specialties from all areas of SWB, it will provide a hub for emergency care, acute medical wards, maternity, general and specialist surgery. This change means that care will be consolidated, ensuring that acutely unwell patients are able to be quickly assessed and treated under one roof at the Midland Met.
In preparation of the move to MMUH a crucial programme of work is being undertaken across several areas to transform our services, focusing on our acute care model (ACM). Our ACM comprises of several services such as cardiology, endoscopy and surgery.
As part of our move, we’ve identified a need to engage with patients and stakeholders around a proposal to change where we complete day-case surgeries. Jayne Salter-Scott, Head of Public and Community Engagement, explained: “The Trust has developed clinical pathways including a new theatre model that proposes to allocate surgical specialties to a single treatment centre. The new theatre model, if approved, will result in a change in location of day-case surgery for general surgery and trauma and orthopaedics (T&O).
“In practical terms it would mean a change in location of day-case surgery for general surgery (Birmingham Treatment Centre) and trauma and orthopaedics and plastics (Sandwell Treatment Centre) rather than carrying out all day case planned surgery on both sites.
“The proposal seeks to separate ‘hot’ acute services and ‘cold’ planned services. Planned day cases would take place on a ‘cold’ site where capacity can be planned, reducing the risk of postponing operations due to urgent cases or infection control implications. Outpatients would continue to be delivered from Sandwell, City and in community settings so we could deliver speciality day-case surgery from concentrated sites.”
Jayne added: “As this is a change in our original care model, we will be talking to patients and key stakeholders to get feedback on our proposals. We must do this as these are the people that will be using our services, and they need to have the opportunity to input into our plans.
“Working together with our colleagues, patients and the communities that support them, we will focus on improving quality standards, the patient experience and achieving better patient health outcomes across our services. It’s a collaborative process, and we want to hear views from colleagues too when our engagement programme starts.
“Our next steps involve liaising with stakeholders, commissioners, the public and launching a formal conversation externally. For anyone that would like some more information, please email swbh.engagement@nhs.net.”