Statement following publication of national framework
Prof Lesley Dwyer, Chief Executive of Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group, said: “Clearly we want our hospitals to be rated higher much higher in the new national framework. They are not where we want them to be and we owe it to our population, patients and staff to make rapid improvements. We are determined to do so.
We have taken an important step forward by setting up our new Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group.
By operating as a formal strategic Group, we can drive speedier and more decisive strategic action and accelerate improvement to patient pathways. Our first priorities are urgent and emergency care, cancer, frailty, stroke and maternity services.
The new Group will also see us better placed to tackle the long standing issues that have affected all our hospitals. These include recruitment struggles, performance issues, growing waiting lists and financial pressures. Tackling these at Group level will help further, by freeing more time for each of our much-loved hospitals to focus on improving the day-to-day delivery of safe, high quality healthcare services our patients can rely on. It will also enable each hospital to play a more dynamic role locally by engaging with others in local communities and neighbourhoods, and with staff, to help co-create, plan and deliver more joined up, locally based services that better respond to local health needs.
Though not happy with where we are now, we are also united and ambitious in our determination to do more. Our ambition, is to develop and deliver a University Hospital system that is recognised locally, regionally and nationally and globally for high quality healthcare, research, education and training and an employment destination of choice.”
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is in segment four in the new National Overview Framework (NOF) which will provide quarterly ratings for Acute Providers, Non-Acute Providers, and Ambulance Trusts. The ratings run from 1- 4 with four being the lowest rating.
NNUH Chief Operating Officer Chris Cobb said: “Overall, our performance has been better in our urgent and emergency care areas. We have a sustained track record of meeting the A&E four-hour standard and compare well compared to Trusts across the country. We have a continued focus on reducing ambulance handover delays by increasing the proportion of hospital discharges before midday and maximising our Virtual Ward capacity. Both of these measures help to create space in emergency areas for new arrivals.
“Our planned care performance is not where we want it to be. We have invested in extra facilities such as the Paediatric Theatre Complex and the Norfolk & Norwich Orthopaedic Centre and this has helped us reduce the long waiting times for both adults and children. We recognise that we still have a lot to do and are determined to continue to improve the waiting times and our Cancer performance in the coming months
“For Cancer, a rapid diagnosis is what we want to see for all our patients, where we can either rule out cancer promptly or commence treatment without delay. We are seeing an improving picture in diagnosing cancer on the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard. Our teams are also working hard to reduce waits on the 62-day referral to treatment standard with extra clinics in place to manage demand. We are also increasing the use of robotic surgery and developing our services to deliver more personalised cancer care.”
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