Transform continues to support the NHS by delivering services to its patients during its time of greatest need. In the final of a series of articles by members of our senior leadership team, our Group Theatre Manager, John Fishwick talks about how the partnership has helped us to introduce more surgical specialities into the broad range we already offer, and how these are helping to cut down long NHS waiting lists.
"Our relationship with the NHS has already led us to broaden our range of specialities to include surgery for skin cancer and breast cancer, maxillofacial procedures and Upper G.I procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy (keyhole gall bladder removal) and laparoscopic hernia repairs.
Because of the ever-increasing interest in our hospitals, we will continue to introduce more specialities so that we can help the NHS and its patients further. In the very near future, for example, we expect to introduce orthopaedic services at Pines Hospital and expand our range of orthopaedic procedures at our Burcot Hall Hospital in Bromsgrove.
There is a large backlog of NHS patients waiting for hip and knee surgery and we are now in an excellent position to provide additional support in this area.
Many of our team members have already gained extensive NHS expertise during their careers. As a direct result of our partnership, over the course of the last 12 months they’ve refreshed existing knowledge in many areas, as well as building on their existing skillset. Everyone has adapted brilliantly to the new processes and ways of working that have been implemented. I am incredibly proud of the speed they have adapted and the high-quality care they deliver to our patients every day.
The NHS partnership has also led us to make changes to how we recruit within Transform. Increasingly, we’re employing practitioners with more general theatre expertise, such as orthopaedic, general and gynaecological skills and experience. In the past we recruited more on a specialist, cosmetic surgery skills basis. By making these changes to our recruitment processes we are in a much more agile position to supply immediate solutions to our NHS partnerships as different workstreams open to us. This means we can facilitate treatment quickly to the patients that need it most.
It’s also been great to see how engaged our staff members have been throughout our NHS partnership. They are delighted to be able to make their own contribution to the national effort during the pandemic, and an amazing rapport has been built between our team and their NHS colleagues. The feedback we’ve received from the NHS surgeons and staff who are using our facilities is incredibly positive. Working together has helped us all to keep on learning, and collaboration has introduced efficiencies that are greatly benefitting NHS patients and reducing long waiting lists.
But as I am sure my colleagues would agree, what is most important of all is that helping the NHS at this time means that more patients can receive the treatment that makes such a huge difference to their everyday lives."