Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Our partnership with Medway NHS Foundation Trust, located in Kent, commenced in January 2023 and introduced weekend ‘One Stop’ breast clinics within the outpatient department at Medway Maritime Hospital. Insourcing clinics began the following month, in February 2023, enhancing service delivery and patient access.
The Challenge
James Shaw is the General Manager at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, bringing over 20 years of NHS experience in managing busy hospitals in Kent. Our partnership with the Trust and James began in January 2023, providing extra capacity for ‘One Stop’ breast clinics (Two Week Wait) by insourcing clinical services on weekends by utilising the Trust’s estate. To tackle significant capacity limitations and improve the performance of our ‘One Stop’ breast service, which was becoming overwhelmed, the Trust initiated a tendering process to find a provider for insourcing services on weekends. This project aimed to enhance patient flow into our breast pathways despite workforce and space constraints.
Having previously collaborated with HBSUK on validation work and other projects, Medway was confident in HBSUK’s capabilities. During the tender process, HBSUK offered the best option, meeting all requirements and more, allowing Medway to onboard their services quickly to help alleviate the pressure. The breast clinics began in February 2023 at Medway Maritime Hospital, and HBSUK used the Trust’s staff to run the clinics, recording all activities in Trust systems. The process was seamless, ensuring the Trust was in safe hands. Through this partnership, the team was able to improve and redesign their breast pathways, which increased efficiencies and performance to benefit patients.
Key Insights
We sat down with James and asked him about the impact HBSUK had on Medway’s Breast Cancer Pathways.
To tackle significant capacity limitations and improve the performance of our ‘One Stop’ breast service, which was becoming overwhelmed, we initiated a tendering process to find a provider for insourcing services on weekends. This project aimed to enhance patient flow into our breast pathways despite workforce and space constraints.
Having previously collaborated with HBSUK on validation work and other projects, we were confident in their capabilities. During the tender process, HBSUK offered us the best option, meeting all our requirements and more. We were pleased to onboard their services quickly to help alleviate the pressure.
The breast clinics began in February 2023 at Medway Maritime Hospital and HBSUK used our staff to run the clinics, recording all activities in our Trust systems. The process was seamless, and we were very pleased with the solution, knowing we were in safe hands
By insourcing our ‘One Stop’ breast clinics with HBSUK, we knew our patients were receiving excellent care. This collaboration enabled my management team and I to reflect and reassess our internal breast pathways. Trusting HBSUK’s services allowed us to explore ways to enhance and improve the service we provide to our patients.
The insourcing partnership gave our teams the headspace to analyse referral data and conduct a comprehensive audit. Previously, the high volume of referrals prevented proper triaging. By following the GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) programme and using HBSUK’s weekly reports, we reviewed our breast pathways. Using our own consultants meant we trusted the data without needing revalidation. This audit allowed us to critically assess the appropriateness of some referrals.
Partnering with HBSUK has significantly enhanced our service delivery to patients. Their support has allowed us to increase capacity and reduce patient pathways from 14 days to just 7, ensuring faster access to care. One of the most valuable aspects of this partnership is HBSUK’s flexibility, particularly their ability to provide additional Sunday clinics at short notice, which has been instrumental in meeting fluctuating demand.
The responsiveness of HBSUK’s operations team has been exceptional, consistently adapting to our evolving needs. This level of trust and reliability has been a cornerstone of our partnership. The flexible, on-demand nature of their service means we can scale support based on capacity pressures, helping us maintain high standards of care.
Build on these outcomes
Want to explore how these results were achieved – or run a similar programme in your service? Our client engagement team is happy to talk through the operational detail.