Our Elective Surgical Hub, which has been central in our ongoing work to reduce our waiting lists, has been highly commended in the Acute Sector Innovation of the Year in the HSJ Awards.

The hub, based at King George Hospital, has enabled us to keep surgical beds free for patients waiting for planned care, instead of them being used for emergency cases. It’s what has allowed us to undertake a variety of high volume ‘super weeks’ to help reduce our waiting lists.

It’s just one of eight across the country to be accredited as part of a national scheme which recognises high standards and a commitment to offer training. A £14m expansion, including two new theatres, is also underway, and due to be completed by next spring.

Fiona Wheeler, our Chief Operating Officer, said: “We’re hugely proud of our Elective Surgical Hub and how it has helped us to get people the care they need quicker. We regularly welcome visitors from across the country to see how we do this.

“Our teams have worked incredibly hard since the pandemic to innovate to ensure we could provide the best possible care for our patients during challenging and highly pressured times. Our hub is a great example of how we achieved that, and we will continue to see it grow, along with our capacity to treat more patients, with the opening of two new theatres next year.”

The awards were held in London on Thursday 16 November.

The hub was also shortlisted in the Performance Recovery Award category, while our Gastroenterology team was also shortlisted in the partnership award category for its work with Medefer.