Thanks to our dedicated teams’ innovative surgical super clinics and additional diagnostic sessions, the number of patients waiting for more than two years (104+ weeks) for treatment continues to fall rapidly – reducing from 218 to 26 since the start of May.

The hard work is continuing and we are optimistic that by the end of June, this particular waiting list will only include a small number of patients who have chosen to delay their treatment.

The work we’ve been doing to reduce waiting times for our patients has been recognised nationally and most recently in the Daily Mail, where our dedicated super clinics were described as ‘pioneering’.

A recent example is our two ‘Bones' blitz weeks, which saw us exceed our target and treat 133 patients by focusing resources to carry out several times the usual number of operations in just one week.

We’re sharing our learnings at this week’s NHS Confed Expo, where Thangadorai Amalesh, Divisional Director for Surgery, and Krishna Vemulapalli, Clinical Lead for Orthopaedics, are discussing the redesign of clinical pathways to improve productivity and reduce the backlog.

Our Chief Executive Matthew Trainer has been full of praise for our surgery division and recently tweeted that the “clear purpose, superb teamwork, excellent results and first class leadership bringing it together” is ensuring our patients get the care they need.