The Elective Orthopaedic Team at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has been trialling a new dual operating technique to maximise capacity and reduce wait times for planned care ahead of winter.
The additional capacity has helped the orthopaedic team to eliminate almost all orthopaedic 65-week waits at NUH. This time last year, patients were waiting almost double the time for the same procedure.
The dual technique involves one surgeon running two theatre lists at the same time with the help of a senior fellow and an arthroplasty care practitioner. Two operating theatres are prepped at the same time, with two anaesthetists, two anaesthetic teams, and two surgical teams.
Mr Benjamin Bloch, Orthopaedic Consultant, introduced the dual operating technique at NUH and said: “We have four orthopaedic theatres at City Hospital, and normally all of these are occupied, but sometimes you have a surgeon who’s on annual leave or sick, and you risk having an empty theatre, cancelling elective surgeries, and ultimately an unutilised resource.
“Previously, you would have just lost the use of that theatre and the surgeries planned for the day. By one surgeon completing two lists, we are maximising capacity in a safe manner and not having to cancel any operations, which is great for patients, and we’re reducing our backlog and waiting times.
“I am really happy with how well this is going and that other consultants are also finding it a useful technique.”
Anushka Zborowski, 69, from Nottingham, had a knee replacement in July this year. She said: “The surgery went well, and everybody looked after me very well. I couldn’t complain about anything.
“Everyone was so very kind and caring towards me, and I can’t thank them all enough.”
Lauren Draper, Elective Orthopaedic Speciality General Manager, said: “We have got 11 dual lists planned between April and December this year. The dual operating list technique is reducing costs, avoiding unnecessary clinic closures, and minimising impact on the outpatient backlog.
“We were able to meet the NHS England mandate of having no patients waiting longer than 65 weeks at the end of September. Compared to where we were last year, with patients waiting almost double this time, we’ve done remarkably well, and the dual operating technique has really helped us get to this point.
“The next mandate is having no patients waiting more than 52 weeks by the end of March next year, and we are on track to meet that as long as we retain our theatre capacity, which this technique is doing.”
