The Trafford Elective Surgical Hub, based at Trafford General Hospital, has become the most recent hub in the North West to gain national accreditation for its services.
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) accreditation, run by NHS England, is given to elective surgical hubs who are delivering high standards in clinical and operational practice.
The Trafford Elective Surgical Hub, run by Manchester University Foundation NHS Trust, carries out around 250 procedures a week. The operations patients typically have include hip and knee replacements, hernia repairs, as well as a range of gynaecological surgery, ear nose and throat surgery and more.
Elective Hub’s play a key role in reducing waiting times, as being separated from emergency services and exclusively performing planned surgeries means they can deliver operations quicker and more effectively.
Greg Cook, Trafford Elective Surgical Hub’s clinical director, said of the accreditation and his team’s work:
“I’m very proud of how hard our staff have worked to get people the care they need as quickly as we can, and I’m pleased their efforts to give the best possible care have been recognised with this national accreditation.
“We delivered 7500 operations for local people in the last year alone, it’s fantastic for an external team to come in and say we have been delivering such a large volume of work to a very high standard.
“The best part of our jobs is hearing about positive patient experiences of using our services, hopefully this accreditation helps to ease any anxieties our future patients may have regarding their surgeries and gives them confidence that they are safe in our hands.”
Lisa Clarke, 53, from Whalley Range in Manchester had both hips replaced at the Trafford Elective Surgical Hub and described her treatment as “lifesaving”:
“It changed my life. I’d suffered with arthritis for eight years and before I had surgery the pain was worse than childbirth, I’d spend the day screaming to the point where I was sick of the sound of myself.
“I was completely housebound and I thought I’d never walk again, in my mind there was never a chance I would get anything close to my normal life back.
“I was anxious about surgery as I’d never had anything done before, but I had no reason to be as the staff who cared for me were amazing. My surgery at the Trafford Elective Surgical Hub made such a difference, I can actually function as person again. I used to cycle and exercise and in the next six months I’ll hopefully be doing that again.
“I’ve got hope again and I feel blessed to have had both my hips done. I went in a stranger and have come out with friends – I have a new lease of life.”