Webinar encourages public involvement in new surgical centre

Would you like to be involved in the ongoing development of a new orthopaedic centre at Central Middlesex Hospital (CMH) which will carry out up to 4,000 operations a year for patients living across north west London? 

The new centre is the result of collaboration between the four acute NHS trusts in north west London – Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which will run the new centre.

The service, which opens later this year following a positive public consultation involving almost 2,000 people, will offer routine bone, joint and ligament surgery, and help reduce waiting times across eight London boroughs. An introductory webinar will be held from 5.30-7.00pm on Tuesday, June 20 when the public can hear presentations from senior clinical figures and learn about the various opportunities to help shape the new service. 

Patients attending the new centre will still have all their pre-operative and post-operative appointments at their local hospital.  There will be only one trip to Central Middlesex Hospital for the surgery itself. However, this could mean longer travel times for some patients, and a key area raised in the public consultation was travel times, journey complexity and costs.

Pippa Nightingale, Chief Executive of London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, which will run the new service, said: “Evidence shows that when routine operations, like joint replacements, are done frequently, in a systematic way, there are improvements in both quality and efficiency. This allows patients to get better care, more quickly and more fairly. 

“We know bringing surgery together to improve waiting times and quality will mean longer travel times for some patients. One of the reasons we want to engage with patients and the public is to agree a fair and equitable patient transport solution.”

Free tickets for the webinar are available at EventBrite