Conveyor belt ops

I WELCOME the excellent work in reducing the waiting list at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital (Good Health).

As a pre-operative senior nurse at the Royal Free Hospital in London in 2003, with the help of nurses and admin staff, I ran an initiative where extra funding was given for day surgery, starting with orthopaedic sessions for carpal tunnel patients.

Pre-operative assessment is now taken for granted, but back then it was new.

We had several Saturday sessions and it was all down to the planning of the day. Yes, it was like a conveyor belt, but we had very happy patients and a wonderful team who each had their role in

making the project a success. It showed that waiting lists can be shortened. Unfortunately, the funding ran out.

It’s time to recreate this approach in all NHS hospitals.

PENNY ALLUM, Watford, Herts.