New facilities set to open as Wrightington Hospital is transformed to care for patients from across Greater Manchester

A state-of-the-art new unit and discharge lounge are opening at Wrightington Hospital as part of efforts to offer more patients quicker access to vital procedures.
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The Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay announced that more than 50 surgical hubs were being set up around the country to deal with the backlog of patients waiting for care caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

These hubs will provide at least 100 more operating theatres and more than 1,000 beds, and deliver almost two million extra routine operations to reduce waiting lists over the next three years, backed by £1.5 billion in Government funding.

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Among the centres is Wrightington Hospital, which has become an orthopaedic surgical hub for Greater Manchester.

Hazel Hendriksen, divisional director for specialist services at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This funding has allowed Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to transform our Wrightington site, not just for the people of Wigan, but to support communities across Greater Manchester and our partners within that health and care system.

“Over the last year Wrightington Hospital has been operating as an orthopaedic surgical hub for Greater Manchester, and developments to the 11-theatre site, thanks to the capital investment received, have included a refurbishment of a previously unutilised theatre into a state-of-the-art ambulatory unit and the refurbishment of an unused facility into a discharge lounge.

“The new ambulatory unit will have a positive impact on the trust’s ability to care for our patients in Wigan, Greater Manchester and beyond and is expected to receive its first patients from September 5.

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“The trust also developed an unused staff canteen area into a modernised discharge lounge which is set to receive its first patients at the end of September.”

The surgical hubs are located around the country and bring together the skills and expertise of staff under one roof, reducing waiting times for some of the most common procedures such as cataract surgeries and hip replacements.

They focus mainly on providing high volume, low complexity surgery, with particular emphasis on ophthalmology, general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, gynaecology, ear nose and throat, and urology.

Mr Barclay said: “In order to bust the Covid backlogs and keep pace with future demands, we can’t simply have business as usual. Surgical hubs are a really tangible example of how we are already innovating and expanding capacity to fill surgical gaps right across the country, to boost the number of operations and reduce waiting times for vital procedures.

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“We have already made progress in tackling the longest waiting lists to offer patients quicker access to treatment, and these new surgical hubs will in their own right deliver additional operations over the next three years, including over 200,000 this year alone.”

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: “Surgical hubs are a vital part of plans to recover elective services across England and these new sites will be a welcome boost in helping us to further tackle the Covid-19 backlogs that have inevitably built up over the pandemic.

“The NHS has made significant progress already, virtually eliminating two-year waits for care by the end of July, and from surgical hubs to robotic surgery, our staff continue to find innovative ways to speed up care for patients.”