NI day surgery plans to change with new specialist units

By David Hunter

The Department of Health has announced major changes to planned day surgeries.

As part of the transformation of care following the Bengoa report, specialist centres are to be set up. 

They'll deal with operations in areas like general surgery, urology, gynaecology and paediatrics.

It'll mean less surgeries being cancelled in hospitals when urgent cases present themselves at A&E. 

The main issues will be finding space for the new centres, and the additional travel faced by patients. 

Plans for the centres will go out for consultation later this year, and by the end of 2020 the department hopes to have over 130,000 cases moved to the new system.

Cataracts and varicose veins are already being dealt with by new specialist units.

DoH Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly said: “Dedicated elective care centres are a priority and a key part of tackling hospital waiting times.

“All too often at present, routine surgery has to be postponed because hospital theatres are needed for urgent and emergency cases.

“By creating day surgery hubs on standalone sites away from 24 hour Emergency Departments, we can make our system more productive for the benefit of patients.

“A key issue will be the location of the centres. This will inevitably mean that some people will have to travel a bit further for their day surgery, but we will achieve significant and sustainable reductions in the waiting times for the procedures.

"Previous work suggests service users accept this trade off."

The planning groups for each of the specialities will include clinicians and representatives from HSC organisations.