A dad with degenerative arthritis became the 1,000th patient through the doors of the Freeman Hospital's new day treatment centre earlier this month.
David Metcalfe, 64, is undergoing "deep pain treatment" for his condition in Newcastle - and was sent from the RVI to the Freeman's new £24m facility for treatment. This day treatment centre, which opened in September, is isolated from the pressures afflicting the rest of the hospital trust by design, meaning that patients like David were able to receive their treatment in a timely fashion despite the unprecedented demands on the NHS.
David, who is from Cumbria but has been travelling east for treatment, said he hoped the injection could even leave him pain-free. He added: "I’ve gone from being quite active to struggling to walk more than 10 or 20 metres without severe pain in my lower back. I’m hoping the injection will reduce the pain or maybe even leave me pain free."
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David added that he had experienced "brilliant" care. "The centre feels modern and clean and the staff are fantastic," he continued. "I felt confident with everything. The staff during the operation were like a family team, they were really at ease with one another. It was a pleasure to come here."
David Rix, the consultant surgeon who is the day treatment centre's clinical lead, said the new building had been a "really great success story" and that after a phased opening, it was now beginning to operate at full capacity. He said: "We have been really pleased at how things have gone. We have had really good feedback from patients and we have treated a large number of them!
"And because it's self-contained it has allowed us to continue with surgery despite all of the pressures we have been dealing with in urgent and emergency care."
The new building has four surgical theatres and dedicated admission and recovery areas. The idea is that it boosts hospital capacity and means less complex procedures can be carried out without impacting on theatre and ward space in the main hospital.
Caoimhe Doherty, matron at the centre, added: "We’re increasing the numbers of procedures we are carrying out and this additional capacity is freeing up thousands of slots in the hospitals’ main theatres, to make way for more complicated operations. As the centre is self-contained, our operating theatres are not affected by emergency patient admissions or pressures linked with winter, so appointments rarely need to be rearranged.”
The most common operations provided at the centre so far include spinal injections, gallbladder removal, breast operations, fitting stents or pacemakers and bladder procedures.
Overall, the latest NHS data shows work to reduce waiting times for operations is beginning to pay off. In November, the total waiting list for elective procedures at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust fell to 100,071. That's a fall of a little under 1,200 from 101,371 in October.
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