Visit to Bolton NHS Foundation Trust

Our chief executive Daniel Elkeles visited Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and saw first-hand what an organisation that describes itself as 'humble' is doing for the very complex population it serves.  

Bolton is a town of 300,000 people whose growth was based on the cotton industry and its decline has left huge deprivation levels where 40% of children live in poverty and where people spend the last 25 years of their lives in ill health.

Daniel said: "Covid-19 struck particularly harshly and is rearing its head again already this winter with over 500 emergency department attendances on the day before I visited. 

"The team has much to be proud of:

• Maternity – it ha identified the places in their catchment where the still birth rate is the highest, which are primarily linked to deprivation levels, and is active in reaching in these communities to encourage women to present early in their pregnancy.
• Elderly care – it is deploying geriatricians to help nursing homes with the highest conveyance rate to hospital to put advanced care plans in place for their residents.
• Elective orthopaedics – it has reduced length of stay for joint replacement down to two days and has now carried out 50 patients as day cases.
• Agency nurse spend – the trust hasn’t had any since April and has reduced bank expenditure by one third.
• Medical training – a brand new medical school on the hospital campus, part of the university of Greater Manchester, takes its first UK students next autumn. It focuses on compassionate leadership.

"The highlight of the visit was seeing the regional antenatal screening centre, which covers north west England and whole of Scotland. In this small lab, the team test for Downs, Edwards' and Patau syndrome in pregnancy. Last year it carried out almost 60,000 tests.

"The £15 test identifies all the women with a more than one in 150 chances of having a baby with one of these genetic abnormalities and allows the parents to decide if they want further investigations. The technology is developing at pace and pre-eclampsia testing should be possible soon.

"Thank you so much to Niruban, Fiona and the team for a superb afternoon!"