Kettering General Hospital records some of England’s best colorectal cancer recovery times.
Melanie Moore has the easy confidence of someone whose ward is quietly outperforming the rest of the country. Based on Kettering General Hospital’s Geddington Ward, she is part of a colorectal team that is now sending major bowel cancer surgery patients home faster than almost any other hospital in England.
It is a remarkable claim for a district general hospital to make, and the national data confirms it. On the NHS Model Hospital platform, the benchmarking service trusts use to compare themselves against one another, Kettering records the shortest median length of stay for elective rectal cancer resection of any reporting trust in England. At around 3.5 days it sits right at the front of the national distribution of 118 providers, against a benchmark of 6.0 days, a national provider median of 7.0, and a long tail of hospitals whose patients can stay anywhere up to around 15 days.
THE WINNING FORMULA
The team is clear that there is no single magic ingredient. The results have come from a combination of dedicated pre and post-operative care, a ward team that knows exactly what it is doing, and a mobile app, Post Op, that keeps patients and clinicians in close contact long after discharge.
The groundwork is laid well before the operation. Every colorectal patient is given a comprehensive pre-operative assessment, at least an hour long, in the days or weeks beforehand. For cancer patients this is a chance to run important checks, including ECGs and tests on iron levels, which can be decisive in making sure someone is fit enough to come through surgery and recover quickly from it.
After theatre, the Geddington Ward team takes over with a consistent enhanced recovery routine. Patients are encouraged to walk straight away, given a specific diet to keep the stomach working, and actively supported to build the confidence to go home.
A PACKAGE
Ask the team what really makes the difference, and they keep coming back to the people. “What it really boils down to is that we are providing a package of enhanced recovery care that is one of the best in the country,” says Geddington Ward Sister Anna Patrick. “We have a team who know what needs to be done and are dedicated to doing it. We then help them walk, eat and gain confidence so they can go home as soon as possible. They do this with the reassurance they get from continuing to be closely monitored by the surgical team through the Post Op app.”
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
The work has been noticed well beyond Northamptonshire. Mel and her team were highly commended at the HSJ Digital Awards 2024 in the Digital Pathways to Net Zero category and reached the finals for Supporting Elective Recovery through Digital.
For the patients, though, the recognition that counts is the kind that arrives quietly, in the relief of getting home sooner and the confidence of knowing their team is only a message away.