Regular Trusted Teams Clear 1000+ Paediatric Patients in Six Months

A reliable service. The continuity of the team gave us the confidence to list more flexibly and redeploy people where they were most needed. With Medacs’ support, our Paediatric waiting list is now under control, positively impacting many children and their families

Deputy General Manager - Theatres and Anaesthesia 

Background

Leeds Teaching Hospitals, one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK and home to one of the country's leading children's hospitals, faced growing demand across its specialist services while continuing to prioritise timely access to care for children and young people. Following a competitive tender process, Medacs was selected to increase their in-week surgical capacity and activity in line with national targets.

Medacs' prior successful delivery of a comparable paediatrics service, where complex procedures were balanced with routine cases, provided confidence in the ability to support the pathway. 

The Approach

The Trust selected Medacs ‘allied’ workforce model, choosing to predominantly use their own surgeons and theatre nursing staff, with extra support from a team supplied by Medacs, including Anaesthetists, ODPs, scrub nurses and theatre support workers. 

All extra staff were experienced in paediatric surgery, with other relevant specialty-based skills and regular availability. With ‘block’ rostering for recurring shift patterns, these extra staff were quickly embedded as regular, familiar and trusted extra members of existing theatre teams.

During train strikes, Medacs arranged taxis and overnight stays in hotels to ensure staff could attend and no procedures would be cancelled for young patients. On one occasion, a replacement staff member was drafted in with just a few hours advance notice, booking late on Sunday night for a Monday morning session.  

Results

Medacs consistently ensured a regular team was available to support surgical sessions, all highly familiar with local staff and their preferred working methods. With all extra staff and their skills ‘known’, the Trust was able to plan services more flexibly across different theatres and specialties.

Five Paediatric lists a week were fulfilled across sub-specialties for General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Plastics and ENT. 99% of planned lists went ahead and feedback on the quality of the staff supplied was highly positive.