A proven way of doing more: Five years of refining high-productivity orthopaedics

Over that period, the model has now supported more than 1,100 patients nationwide, working in partnership with NHS organisations across the UK.

Our orthopaedics model is built around enhanced recovery principles and careful preparation before the day of surgery. Patients attend structured pre-assessment clinics, with physiotherapy input, allowing early optimisation and clear expectations. On the day, standardised theatre processes, experienced teams and agreed anaesthetic and analgesic protocols support efficient case flow. Post-operatively, early mobilisation and focused physiotherapy enable many patients to return home the same day, reducing length of stay and easing pressure on inpatient beds.

By making better use of existing theatre capacity, particularly during evenings, weekends or other under-utilised sessions, Trusts can increase surgical throughput without adding sustained pressure to their core workforce or infrastructure. Importantly, the impact extends beyond the individual lists delivered. Through close collaboration and shared learning, local teams frequently adopt elements of the pathway themselves, supporting longer-term improvements in productivity and patient flow.

If your Trust is currently managing an orthopaedics backlog and has theatre capacity that could be better utilised, we would welcome an open, no-pressure conversation about how this proven model might work in your local setting. In our experience, the strongest results always come from working together.

Contact us to find out more.

Women’s Health: Why Regular Check-Ups Are Non-Negotiable

“The greatest wealth is health.” It’s a phrase we hear often, but when it comes to women’s health, it’s more than just a saying—it’s a responsibility. And yet, many women put their own health last. Work, family, life—it all gets in the way. But here’s the truth: catching problems early saves lives.

Let’s talk about symptoms. Heavy periods? Unexplained bloating? Pelvic pain? These aren’t just nuisances; they could be warning signs of conditions like fibroids, endometriosis, or even ovarian cancer. Yet, too often, women normalise them or are dismissed when they seek help. That needs to change from all sections of the society.

Remember: a healthy women leads to a healthy family, which itself leads to a healthy society.

Because looking after yourself isn’t an afterthought; it’s essential. 
And it starts today

Thanks
Dr Nitish Raut

More NHS hubs, utilisation of private sector resources, more patient choice, and boosting diagnostic capacity.

These are the headline strategies the Government is planning to reduce the current 7.5 million long waiting list facing the NHS. The government pledged this week that 92% of patients waiting for planned hospital care will be seen within the 18-week target – it’s an ambitious goal given that only 58.9% of patients are currently seen within that timeframe.

But we should be careful of using the 18-week target as a sole measure of how the NHS is coping and how well patients are being cared for:

‘…. while significantly reducing long waits for planned hospital care is a worthy goal, the 18-week referral-to-treatment target should not be taken as the sole measure of how the NHS is faring. Equally important to people are how long they are waiting for a GP appointment or an ambulance, for mental health care and for other services.’ – Sarah Woolnough, Chief executive of the King’s Fund
(Press release, 6th January 2025)

Reducing waits is rightly a top priority, but experienced staff who are looked after and supported, and patient choice, are also essential going forward.

Where does Medinet come in?

We will continue to deliver services below NHS tariff, encourage long-term contractual relationships, and utilise our team of over 6,000 registered clinicians supported by our own full-time clinical team who provide governance and assurance for service delivery. Our modular units, with a proven track-record of success, will provide the additional physical space to maximise diagnostic and elective care services, and through our 80+ clinics under the HealthHarmonie brand we provide increased patient choice in the community.

Medinet and HealthHarmonie welcome the partnership agreement as a mechanism to deliver the government's promises by leveraging the independent sector to deliver quality care through the NHS, which remains free at the point of access.

The plan is in place, but trust and long-term partnerships with the private sector are key going forward. We’re excited to continue maximising capacity with excellent clinical staff, to see more patients than ever, quickly and safely.

CSJ May Edition Article

Modular units are one of the most effective ways to upgrade NHS capacity and crack down on the huge waiting list facing millions of patients in the UK. You don’t need us to tell you about the pressures faced by the health service, so instead we want to highlight some of the solutions available, and how NHS support services like Medinet can help.

It’s not as simple as building new hospitals; putting the infrastructure in place to expand capacity can, in the interim, result in even worse backups. A solution is needed that can operate alongside existing departments, instead of exacerbating existing pressures. At the point of GPs through to diagnostics, to theatres and wards, capacity needs to be increased in a way that is cost-effective and more importantly, safe. While the government committed to building 40 new hospitals in England by 2030, delays to projects makes meeting that target increasingly unlikely, and even if it is achievable, a time-critical solution is needed in the interim.

A solution with a proven track record

Modular units have been around for decades; in the UK, modular units were a timely response to the housing crisis post World War II, thanks to their cost efficiency and ease of building. The UK has embraced modular construction, with units now a crucial part of NHS infrastructure. They serve as a long-lasting and cost-effective way of expanding hospital capacity, reinforcing the system’s ability to meet healthcare needs. At Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS Foundation trust for example, we’ve developed an innovative endoscopy healthcare unit to alleviate waiting list pressures on the trust which has seen great success.

“Our track record in supporting the NHS, delivering high volume services across multiple clinical specialties, allied to our ability to design, build, and mobilise modular facilities in short timeframes, puts us in a unique position in the current healthcare landscape. The ability to work alongside our NHS partners as an extension to their services, but in our own managed facilities, has shown exceptional levels of productivity and demonstrated the significant positive impact that we can have on waiting lists.”

– Oliver Bailey, Chief Growth Officer (Medinet)

Modern technology to support the NHS

The increased use of modular units coincides with an uptick in new technologies in healthcare, from AI to advanced imaging techniques. GI Genius™, for example, is the first-to-market, deep learning, computer-aided polyp detection system able to detect polyps of different shapes, sizes, and morphologies in real-time (Medtronic, Medinet). Powered by software trained with over 13 million images, GI Genius™ helps address the challenges of detecting potential signs of colorectal cancer early. It harnesses deep learning algorithms to assist in clinical decision-making during colonoscopy in real-time, using visual markers to both alert physicians to the presence of lesions and to provide a potential prediction of the histopathology using its characterisation feature. Features like this, alongside dedicated units for endoscopy, pose an exciting future for the NHS.

Read the full article at:

References:

BMA: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-backlog-data-analysis

Medtronic: https://www.medtronic.com/covidien/en-gb/products/gastrointestinal-artificial-intelligence/gi-genius-intelligent-endoscopy.html

Medinet: https://www.ukmedinet.com/modular-units

Get Screened, get seen – Tackling women’s health inequality by ending the wait

It’s not just cervical screening results that are facing delays, gynaecology services in general are suffering some of the largest waiting lists in the UK.

For gynaecology services in England the latest numbers are from November 2022 and have 544,707 people on the waiting list, and only 55.7% of people being seen within the 18-week target. The list has jumped by over 60% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

On top of this, over-stretched GP surgeries are struggling to meet demand for appointments. These waiting lists feed into a huge problem: the gender health gap. The UK has the largest gender health gap in the G20, and the 12th largest globally, meaning that women are more likely to face greater health risks than men.³

Ending the wait for specific areas medicine of has implications for individual patients, but also for the bigger picture. By working together to end the wait, we can produce better outcomes for patients and address health inequalities like the gender health gap.

Let’s work together to achieve better healthcare for everyone.

1. Delays to your cervical screening results? Jo’s cervical cancer trust. Available at:
   https://www.jostrust.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blog/blog/delays-your-cervical-screening-results
2. Consultant-led Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Data 2022-23. NHS England. Available online:
   https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2022-23/#Mar23
3. Women’s health outcomes: Is there a gender gap? (2021) House of Lords Library. Available at:
   https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/womens-health-outcomes-is-there-a-gender-gap/

A focus on Gastroenterology ahead of BSG LIVE 2023

There is good news, outsourcing can help departments all over the UK crackdown on waiting lists, and get patients seen faster. Read what our Gastro and Endoscopy Medical lead has to say:

“When you choose Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Insourcing with Medinet, you choose highly skilled medical professionals who have extensive experience and undergo regular and up-to-date appraisals. It will feel as though your local staff and Medinet staff are working seamlessly as one. You choose a patient-outcome-based approach which embeds patient feedback into the contract, carries out frequent audits and follows strict clinical governance to ensure that improvement never stops. You choose a partner with over 11 years of experience helping over 100 different UK NHS sites, with an excellent reputation. You choose a solution that slots into your existing structures to help you achieve your screening and treatment targets, such as Two Week Wait and Straight-to-Test procedures.”

Gastroenterology & Endoscopy Medical Lead

Let’s work together to end the wait. Whether you’re a healthcare professional looking for a better work-life balance while making a difference, or you can see the benefits insourcing can make to your department.

If you’re at BSG 2023 come and see us!

Find out more about the conference: https://www.bsg.org.uk/events/bsg-live-2023/

Tackling the NHS elective backlog: The Medinet Manifesto

THE MEDINET MANIFESTO

• We see the pressure building on patient waiting lists and on NHS staff. Medinet will provide access to the UK’s largest pool of expert clinicians to ease that pressure, delivering care to those who need it, faster.
• Every Trust is unique and so are their needs. We recognise that with a collaborative approach, designing consultant-led solutions to deliver the exact blend of support required to overcome the most complex challenges.
• The need is national and so are we. We provide full coverage in more than 20 specialist areas, ensuring highly skilled experts are deployed no matter where, no matter when.
• We uphold the highest standards of the NHS, securing patient safety with a robust Governance Framework that sits at the foundation of every specialism we offer.
• We build change that lasts. We collaborate to eliminate patient waiting times sustainably by working to existing patient pathways and finding the most effective and efficient solutions to support every Trust. That includes supplying specialists and subspecialists flexibly for as long as they are needed, keeping Trusts within target and patient satisfaction scores above the NHS average.
• Budgets drive decisions, so we set fees consistently below tariff, making us reliably accessible. Always.
• We see the people behind the statistics and the targets. Our teams will ease the workload for clinicians, consultants, and nursing staff, reducing stress, and improving their working environment.
• Together we can help millions of people get the care they need and end the great wait across the nation. We are Medinet. We are the National Help Service.

How insourcing can help meet elective care targets

Elective Background

Since the onset of the pandemic, the provision of non-emergency and elective care has been dramatically reduced in the NHS, leading to massive increases in waiting lists for elective procedures and negatively impacting on the lives of patients awaiting treatment. The suspension of elective procedures has led to an estimated 10 million patients currently awaiting treatment from the NHS. In order to address this backlog and bring waiting lists down to pre-pandemic levels (or better) in the coming years, then decisive action, funding and independent sector support is needed.

The UK government has acknowledged that, in order for NHS England to reduce waiting times for elective procedures in any impactful way, then significant financial investment – coupled with meaningful organisational change – is required. To this end, they have launched the Elective Recovery Fund (ERF), releasing £1BN in funding to aid the recovery of elective activity during 6 months 2021/22.

Acute trusts and their systems are now formulating plans to restore elective services with the support of organisations such as Medinet, addressing not just waiting list length but also certain ‘gateway criteria’ which have been laid down by the government in order to incentivise performance. These criteria include ensuring that the needs of patients who have waited longest are addressed first and reducing health inequalities, in addition to increasing elective capacity with a view to scaling rapidly, and maximising throughput without compromising patient safety or care quality.

As part of the wider NHS recovery plan, the government has committed to paying tariff prices for performance above 70% of pre-covid elective activity levels, in addition to core funding. This threshold will rise incrementally to 85% from July-September.

Collaboration

NHS England’s 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance states that: “targeted collaborative partnerships with IS providers to support delivery of system capacity plans will continue to be an important element of elective recovery plans”.

It’s clear that the NHS will need support meet these ambitious targets, drive down waiting lists and restore elective care. Medinet have been working with NHS Partners to form targeted collaborative partnerships: collaboration is the key to increasing capacity and facilitating elective recovery plans across all elective specialities.

Although the NHS has experienced unprecedented pressure in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the government has provided assurance that funding is available to get services back on track. Now is the time for acute trusts to secure support in the areas where it is needed most: to restore elective services, improve access to high quality care for patients waiting for services, and to do it quickly before either funding or capacity runs out.

That’s where we come in. Medinet has been providing experienced, highly qualified surgical teams to support NHS trusts and help reduce waiting lists for over 15 years. We’re providing a unique planning service which reflects the needs of your department, your priorities and your budget. Our expert clinical teams can mobilise rapidly, work flexibly (from 1 day a fortnight to 7 days a week), in one speciality or across multiple fields simultaneously. Ultimately we a design a service that provides the right clinical capacity in a fluid response that scales to need and provide this through the most appropriate model – as an insourcing solution or otherwise. That is why we have been trusted to safely see and treat over 40,000 patients since the last few weeks of 2021.

If you’d like to find out more about how Medinet can help, then get in touch. From short-term solutions to long-term support, we can help you to get your planned services back on track.

NHS referral to treatment (RTT) waiting lists 2022

The 18 week standard sets out the ambitious aim that 92% of patients should receive the elective care treatment they require, no more than 18 weeks after being referred by their GP.

However, despite redoubling their efforts, NHS services are still experiencing rising backlogs in consultant-led elective care services, which does not align with government objectives to accelerate the restoration of elective and cancer care.

However, the NHS remains fragile, and highly susceptible to the fluctuating demands of an ageing population. As a result of record waiting lists for elective care, there has been considerable deterioration in the condition of many patients. This has contributed to an elective care backlog of patients with serious and complex needs. In addition, new patients continue to be referred for elective care services – in the month of January 2022 alone, 1,513,035 patients started a new RTT pathway – adding to waiting lists at a much faster rate than even the most competent, accomplished NHS Trust is able to reduce them.

Fortunately, the UK Gov remains committed to reducing waiting lists, improving the patient experience and offering greater autonomy to service users, and has provided significant additional funding in order to achieve these goals. As laid out in NHS England’s latest Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance, Trusts are being encouraged to: “work closely with independent sector providers to maximise the capacity and services available…including for cancer”.

In order to address this backlog and make significant inroads towards the 92% RTT standard, the NHS must continue its collaboration with the private sector. The UK Gov has already acknowledged the need for additional funding to support public-private partnerships, so that the NHS can achieve the targets which have been laid down for them. This is the only viable solution for making the most effective use of NHS facilities, protecting the existing workforce and building a more efficient, resilient public health service.

How Medinet can help

At Medinet, our priority is to reduce waiting times for people who are patiently waiting for care.

We are helping the NHS to achieve this by providing dedicated clinical care teams working across a range of specialities, to support overstretched NHS Trusts.

Whether you are looking for additional support 7 days a week, during evenings or weekends, we’ll utilise your facilities to help make substantial improvements to waiting lists, fast.

Our elective care services:

• Meet regulatory standards
• Prioritise patient safety
• Guarantee improved clinical outcomes.

Get in touch

Contact us and speak to someone about how we can help reduce waiting lists and improve outcomes for patients. Our solutions are tailor-made to fit in with your existing workflows, whilst making a big impact.

How can NHS Oncology services recover from Covid-19?

There is no question that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented disruptions to cancer care services in the UK, resulting in substantial backlogs. Despite their best efforts, the insurmountable obstacles faced by the NHS have led to delays in both diagnosis and treatment for cancer.

Between March and September last year, 350,000 fewer people were referred to cancer specialists than during the same period the year before and throughout 2020, 40,000 fewer people began treatment for cancer than in 2019. Worryingly, Breast Cancer Now has estimated that up to 12,000 people could be living with undiagnosed breast cancer, as a result of screening delays directly brought about by the pandemic.

Today, an estimated 16,000 people are waiting over 62 days for a cancer diagnosis. Diagnosing cancer and beginning treatment quickly is essential. The devastating impact of delays in cancer care is an inevitable increase in avoidable deaths from cancer.

Build back better

The UK Government’s Build Back Better initiative focuses on just this: the idea that not only can we overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19, but that essential services can come back stronger than ever. In order to achieve this, the government has laid down ambitious plans to tackle not just the backlog in screening, treatment and elective care, but also to help the NHS to evolve into a more robust, sustainable organisation which can withstand any further challenges the future may bring.

The government has pledged over £8 billion in the next three years to “tackle (the) elective backlog in the biggest catchup programme in the NHS’s history”, and facilitate a 30% increase – on pre-pandemic levels – in elective activity. This will be achieved through collaboration and partnerships with the private sector which will increase capacity, resulting in the delivery of additional procedures and treatments, “improving the quality and quantity of patient care through a more efficient service”.

This shift in focus to a more long-term approach which relies more heavily on collaboration with the private sector is a positive change, and one which is necessary if the NHS is to continue to navigate the uncertain waters ahead.

But is it too optimistic to view some of the challenges exposed by the pandemic as a ‘silver lining’? Perhaps not. Using the wealth of data gathered during the pandemic, the health service now has a unique opportunity to ‘build back better’ for cancer patients; learn from the mistakes of the past and develop a more efficient, more sustainable service which meets the needs of both patients and staff and can take the NHS into the future.

Medinet’s Oncology services

We offer a range of tailor-made oncology services including cancer diagnosis and treatment. Our experienced team of skilled consultants and nurses are already helping a number of NHS trusts get their oncology services back on track, tackle backlogs and reduce waiting lists.

We can support with:

• Biopsies
• Tumor removal
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Endoscopy

375,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in the UK each year, and timely diagnosis and treatment are essential to improve survival rates.

Our clinical teams can be mobilised in as little as two weeks. Get in touch to find out how Medinet can support your department, help reduce backlogs and improve outcomes for patients.