Endoscopy patients at Stepping Hill Hospital are now being seen and treated sooner thanks to a new service at a community facility in South Manchester run by Endocare Diagnostics.
The new community diagnostic facility is a partnership project between Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Endocare and is a temporary measure until Stepping Hill Hospital opens its own new enhanced endoscopy facilities on site later in the year.
Endoscopy services are used to examine inside a patient’s digestive tract for conditions including Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease and cancer. Demand for these services is constantly increasing from 10,000 procedures in 2015, to just over 11,200 in 2018, and is expected to grow to over 13,000 a year by 2023.
The impact of COVID-19 has also had an effect in increasing waiting times for endoscopy patients for Trusts across the country, where some patients with less urgent and more routine conditions are having to wait a number of months for treatment.
The new state-of-the-art facility, based at Princess Parkway in Manchester is expected to have a major impact on reducing waiting lists, ensuring our patients are seen sooner. It provides a 7 day service and is staffed by clinical teams from Endocare Diagnostics.
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust remains responsible for all booking and pre assessment processes for endoscopy patients, providing the full pre-assessment service at the Stepping Hill Hospital site.
Endocare clinicians have provided endoscopy service solutions to the Northern Care Alliance sites in Greater Manchester since 2018, and more recently within Cheshire & Merseyside. The first patients were seen at the new facility on January 17th 2022.
Jason Hughes, Chief Operating Officer at Endocare Diagnostics said “It has been a privilege to welcome patients to our state-of-the-art facility and to receive positive feedback post procedure. We have engaged a strong management partnership between Endocare and Stockport Foundation Trust around this venture to ensure we provide NHS patients with the level of quality and assurance required and to also deliver against our commitment to the Care Quality Commission regulator.”
Karen Hatchell, Divisional Director for Surgery at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in increasing waiting lists for endoscopy patients across the country over the last two years. Therefore, I am delighted that our new partnership with Endocare will have the positive effect of ensuring our patients are seen and treated in a more timely manner. We are looking forward to our own enhanced new endoscopy facilities opening on the Stepping Hill Hospital site later this year, and until then this facility is a fantastic way of providing the care our patients need.”