Independent hospitals have supported the NHS throughout the pandemic, treating over 3m NHS patients needing cancer care, stroke rehab services, dialysis and much more.

The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) have published a report “Working together during COVID 19: one year on from the start of the pandemic” to mark one year of the NHS and the private sector uniting to ensure urgent surgical care could continue.

IHPN’s Chief Executive, David Hare, writes

The coronavirus pandemic has tested the health service, and indeed the country as a whole, like never before. But this last year has also been a time when healthcare providers have truly stepped up to the plate, with staff showing an extraordinary commitment and determination to ensure patients can continue to get the treatment they need in the most challenging of circumstances.

The report highlights just some of the inspiring partnerships between independent healthcare providers and the NHS, and the One Healthcare group (One Hatfield Hospital and One Ashford Hospital) are proud to feature.

From the end of March 2020, the One Healthcare immediately made their resources available to the NHS to ensure urgent surgical care could continue, enabling NHS hospitals to manage the surge in COVID-19 patients.  It has been an extremely challenging time for both the independent sector and the local Trust hospitals, but the One Healthcare have managed to carry out in excess of 11,000 NHS procedures during this time.

During the first peak of the pandemic, the majority of NHS patients seen at One Hatfield Hospital were awaiting time-critical, urgent surgeries, including many patients needing urgent treatment for head and neck cancer, and children needing urological surgery.

Ear, nose and throat surgeon Mr George Mochloulis has been a consultant at the Lister Hospital, Hertfordshire, for 20 years and is the head and neck oncology lead for East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. He has continued to operate on his cancer and urgent NHS patients at One Hatfield Hospital during the pandemic.

Mr Mochloulis said

The arrangement between the Lister Hospital and One Hatfield Hospital has allowed me to continue to provide the high-quality surgical care our head and neck, thyroid and ear, nose and throat patients required. With the help of the excellent staff at One Hatfield, we continue to operate on complex patients successfully. I am very grateful to all of them.

Since then, One Hatfield Hospital has varied its support to meet the needs of local NHS Trusts . Alongside time critical ENT, urology and general surgeries, we have provided routine treatment to support the reduction of NHS waiting lists, particularly patients awaiting pain management treatment, and patients needing hip and knee replacement surgeries. Throughout the pandemic we have received large numbers of patients awaiting diagnostic investigations such as MRI scans, CT Scan or X-ray.

While there is now, thankfully, light at the end of the tunnel. The health service will continue to grapple with the repercussions of the pandemic for many years to come, not least in beginning the hard word of clearing the backlog of treatments that have built up during the last 12 months whilst still managing Covid patients in hospital and in the community.

Here at One Hatfield, supporting our NHS has been a privilege and we will continue to offer our assistance for as long as it is needed.