Health Minister visits OUH
16/02/2023
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Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) welcomed Minister for Health and Secondary Care Will Quince MP to the Trust on Tuesday 14 February.
The Minister met with members of the Trust Board and clinical staff to witness and discuss the positive work undertaken by OUH to increase surgical and diagnostic capacity for Oxfordshire patients.
Professor Meghana Pandit (OUH Chief Executive Officer), Sara Randall (Chief Operating Officer), and Jason Dorsett (Chief Finance Officer) showed the Minister how OUH is making operating theatres more productive and transforming elective care.
This involved a visit to the Oxford-based Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre's (NOC) theatres, where the Minister was shown how short stay units and data are being utilised to tackle elective waiting times.
There is more information about how the Trust is meeting the challenges of elective recovery in this Shelford Group blog.
The Minister was given a tour around the Botnar Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences, also on the NOC site, which carries out research into improving the treatment of arthritis, osteoporosis and other bone and joint diseases.
The visit concluded with a trip to the Oxford Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) to see how patients across Oxfordshire are benefitting from earlier life-saving diagnostic tests.
The Cowley-based CDC, run in partnership between OUH and Perspectum, provides a range of elective (planned) diagnostic procedures, such as scans and tests, in the community setting, providing quicker access to tests and greater convenience for patients.
Professor Meghana Pandit, Chief Executive Officer at OUH, said: "It was a pleasure to show the Minister some of the excellent work we are doing at the Trust to combat waiting times and enhance the level of care we can provide to patients.
"We are keen to explore every opportunity to see more patients more quickly and reduce waiting lists. I am grateful to the OUH staff who have worked on these improvements and to other health partners who we work with to deliver better services to our patients."
Pictured, from left: Sara Randall (Chief Operating Officer), Jason Dorsett (Chief Finance Officer), Will Quince MP (Minister for Health and Secondary Care), Prof Meghana Pandit (Chief Executive Officer), Prof Andy Price (Clinical Director for Trauma and Orthopaedics), and Antony Palmer (Consultant Hip Surgeon) at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre