Surgical hubs at Grimsby and Goole among best in country

Hospital theatre teams in Goole and Grimsby have been awarded national accreditation for delivering outstanding care to tens of thousands of patients undergoing surgery.

Staff working in the Elective Surgical Hubs at Goole Hospital and Diana, Princess of Wales (DPoW) Hospital in Grimsby have been awarded “Hub Accreditation” by NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Now, both hubs join the list of top hospitals in the country to earn national recognition for their work after they were judged on criteria including patient care, facilities, staff and training.

Hayley Briggs, Operations Director at Theatres, Anaesthetics and Critical Care (TACC) Care Group at Humber Health Partnership (HHP), said national accreditation comes shortly after the surgical hubs were named as the better performing teams in the North East and Yorkshire.

She said: “We are so proud of the teams for their efforts in preparing and delivering the required improvements and standards required for this accreditation.

“From the staff in the theatres to the teams on the Day Surgery wards and the booking staff and the ops staff, everyone is to be congratulated for this outstanding effort.

“And patients can be assured that when they’re coming to us for planned surgery, they’re receiving some of the finest care in the country.”

Richard Owen Smith, Chief of Service for TACC, said: “It’s just fantastic for all the teams involved, as well as our patients who are receiving a nationally-accredited service. It’s great to see all that hard work has been recognised.”

England has 123 surgical hubs, with skilled staff brought together in different health specialties to reduce waiting lists, offering hundreds of thousands of patients quicker access to the more common surgical procedures like cataract surgery, general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics including hip and knee replacements and ENT.

HHP has Elective Surgery Hubs at Goole, Grimsby, Castle Hill Hospital and Scunthorpe and almost 23,000 patients benefited from day surgery in its last year.

Goole Hospital tops the league table for the most procedures carried out in the region and is currently fourth best in the country. The new purpose-built Day Surgery Centre at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham has the region’s best rate of patients undergoing procedures in each four-hour theatre session.

Now, Goole and DPoW can add the national accreditation to its rollcall of honours.

To earn accreditation, the hubs in Grimsby and Goole were measured against a series of criteria and standards, evidence was submitted to the national team for review and a follow-up visit by the inspectors took place, when staff outlined their progress so far and future plans. The inspectors visited both hospitals and spoke to the teams involved in delivering patient care.

The Hub Accreditation panel them reviewed all findings before making their decision to award the highly prized status to Goole and DPoW.

Scunthorpe General Hospital and the Day Surgery Centre at Castle Hill are expected to go through the same accreditation programme in the next six months.