Trusts and their staff continue to work hard to restore activity levels in all services within a challenging context of seasonal pressures, local surges in COVID-19 and a pressing need to address a care backlog in some services, particularly elective care.

We know it is distressing and frustrating for those patients who are waiting longer for care while trusts seek to prioritise their services based on clinical need and reduce waiting lists for some treatments.

However trusts tell us that many of their services are now operating at, or over, the capacity levels they would expect for the time of year, particularly in community and many mental health services.

In these challenging conditions, we must continue to recognise the extraordinary commitment by NHS frontline staff in restoring services. NHS Providers is shining a light on what trusts are accomplishing in a series of briefings over the coming months. The second edition of our series, Restoring services: NHS activity tracker, focuses on innovations as staff go above and beyond to find new ways of working across acute, ambulance, mental health and community services. Examples include:

• Developing an innovative system to ensure the distribution of PPE across 40 mental health and community sites and a 150 mile radius in Northamptonshire
• Using technology to ensure safe and convenient appointments continued for patients in Northumbria
• Using technology to maximise capacity, enabling both patients and staff to operate triage, diagnostics and share results remotely; and restoring elective care in partnership with the independent sector in Nottingham
• Ensuring critical pain management services continued in the Walton Centre
• Prioritising cancer pathways and restoring elective care at Sherwood Forest
• Reopening transplant services and undertaking 20 liver transplants in Plymouth.

These case studies show that the NHS is not providing a COVID-only service, and is not dragging its feet in restoring service volumes to their pre-COVID levels. Since April NHS trusts have been focusing on increasing the number of operations, procedures and diagnostic testing. Each month the NHS has significantly increased the number of operations and diagnostic tests carried out, as well as restoring outpatient appointments wherever possible.

The director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin said:

“Trusts tell us they are restoring services as quickly as possible, and that many services are already operating at, or above, usual capacity levels. We know there is a particular challenge to address the elective care backlog, and trusts are addressing that as quickly as they can.

“Ordinarily in winter we see reduced elective activity so that trusts can focus on an increase in demand for urgent and emergency care often generated by seasonal pressures such as respiratory illnesses. However this year staff are under even more strain as they focus on managing a second wave of COVID, planning for a potential ‘no deal’ Brexit and reducing the elective waiting list, all alongside the annual spike in seasonal pressures.

We owe it to NHS staff to recognise their achievements and just how hard they are working.

Miriam Deakin    Co-Director of Development and Engagement

“We owe it to NHS staff to recognise their achievements and just how hard they are working. As our new briefing shows, frontline staff are being just as innovative as they were in the first COVID-19 peak earlier this year.

“The NHS is open for business and it is essential that people seek help and care when they need it.”