Waiting Times Cut Thanks to St Hugh’s Partnership
Patients in North and North East Lincolnshire who are eagerly awaiting pain management appointments will be seen more quickly thanks to a partnership to help reduce waiting times for assessments and treatments.
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) is working with InHealth Pain Management Solutions and St Hugh’s to make more appointments available for patients who have been referred to the service by their GP.
While InHealth Pain Management Solutions will tackle new referrals and offer physiotherapy sessions, psychological support and joint injections within the community, St Hugh’s will provide a hospital setting for patients who require medical treatments, such as x-ray guided injections.
Ashley Brown, Hospital Director at St Hugh’s, said: “We already support the NHS with a number of treatments from our not-for-profit facility. More than 83 per cent of our patients come directly through NHS referrals and we’re passionate about offering our services to help cut waiting times and speed up access to treatment and the recovery time for patients across Lincolnshire.
“I’m delighted that we’re able to offer this level of support, working in collaboration with NLaG and InHealth Pain Management Solutions. Partnerships of this nature are the key to improving the healthcare provision in the whole area, which is one of our main priorities.”
Shaun Stacey, NLaG Chief Operating Officer, recently explained that owing to long-standing capacity issues affecting the trust’s chronic pain management service, patients have been experiencing long waits for appointments and treatment.
Shaun said: “We are very sorry patients have been waiting. We are now working in partnership with two local providers who already deliver NHS pain management services to increase the number of available appointments. We are pleased to confirm this will significantly reduce waiting times and provide more options around the care local patients receive.”
Helen Kenyon, Chief Operating Officer of NHS North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were working closely with the three providers to support an improved service for local patients.
“We are working closely together with local providers to continually improve patient care and experience and increase capacity while reducing waiting times,” said Helen.
To help manage the expected increased workload, St Hugh’s recently boosted the pain management team following the recruitment of Dr Swaroop Sampu as the Consultant in Pain Management and Anaesthesiology.
Dr Sampu trained in medicine and completed a masters in anaesthesia in India. In 2002 he moved to England and completed a fellowship in Dublin to become a consultant in 2009.
Among his many accolades, he is an Associate Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists, a Fellow of the College of Anaesthetists at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and a member of the British Pain Society.
His particular areas of interest include pain relief and pain management, specifically for patients experiencing chronic back, neck and neuropathic pain, as well as those suffering from cancer pain and sports injuries.
As part of his clinic at St Hugh’s, Dr Sampu will use state-of-the-art x-ray image intensifiers and ultrasound imaging to deliver precision-guided injections to achieve the best possible outcome for his patients.
Ashley Brown added: “I’m pleased to welcome Dr Sampu to our growing team. Building our own capacity in this way will enable us to support the local trusts and – most importantly – the local community, for many more years to come.”
If you have a question about the pain management treatments offered at St Hugh’s please contact visit the Treatments section of our website.