NHS waiting lists for non-emergency surgeries such as hip replacements are longer than ever. The UK government is investing £1.5 billion in “High-Volume, Low-Complexity” (HVLC) surgical hubs to reduce waiting lists for routine, non-emergency operations. The MEASURE project investigates whether this initiative offers value for money.
What will we find out?
- What HVLC hubs already exist or are currently being set up in England.
- How (quickly) the hubs are set up, what they do, how they work, and lessons that can be learned.
- What the hubs mean for patients and carers.
- What the hubs mean for its staff.
- Whether the hubs have any unintended negative effects on the local NHS Trust and their workforce as a whole.
How will we do it?
- We will review documents from NHS hospitals and services and interview key policy and decision-makers for the hubs initiative.
- Statistical analysis will compare NHS data on what happens in areas with and areas without hubs. We will do this every year during the project to look at levels of service, number of patients treated, waiting times and whether all patients benefit equally from hubs.
- Researchers will visit up to nine hubs to watch and speak to patients and staff who work at the hub. This will help us find what works well, what needs improving, and how improvements can be made.
- Health economics will help us find out which hubs are most and least productive. We will look at factors such as people’s medical conditions, survival rates and waiting times in relation to resources such as equipment, facilities and number of staff.
- We will look at the way hubs are staffed and how that affects their wider NHS Trust.
Throughout the project, staff and patient representatives will advise the research team.
Go to the MEASURE study protocol for a full description of the project.
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Patient view
Patient view
Patient view
