NHS Confederation: Reducing waiting lists by repurposing a Nightingale hospital into a protected elective centre (20 March 2023)

Summary

How one Devon ICS has worked with local trusts to cut deliver extra capacity at a former Nightingale hospital, now converted into an elective centre.

Content

Waiting lists for some procedures in Devon have been cut by converting a Nightingale hospital into a protected elective centre delivering additional orthopaedic, ophthalmology and diagnostic activity. Cooperation between clinicians from different trusts has resulted in innovative ways of working. The Devon integrated care system has worked with local trusts – principally the Royal Devon University Health Foundation Trust but also Torbay and South Devon Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Plymouth Trust – to deliver the extra capacity.

Key benefits and outcomes

• Patients who would have faced a long wait from across Devon are being seen more quickly in a facility that is not at risk of cancellation from emergency pressures.
• Shorter stays for orthopaedic patients receiving hip and knee replacements, many of whom can be discharged on the same day as their operation.
• The centre has been a catalyst to encourage a ‘system first’ mindset.