Newsroom
Ewen Cameron's blog
As the new financial year begins, it is important that we look back and take stock of our successes. While it has certainly been a very challenging year, where we focused on returning to financial sustainability and bringing down waiting times, there is much we can be proud of.
Our urgent and emergency care services teams have made herculean efforts to improve our performance against a key metric that we are measured on; the 4-hour target – where we aim to admit or discharge patients within four hours of attending the emergency department. In December we were at 62.1%, January 63.4%, and February 67.1% - this is far below the 78% target we had to achieve by 31 March 2025. In March however, we achieved 88.4%, testament to the hard work of our teams in both our hospitals and the community. We are working to maintain this level of performance so that during our most pressured times patients receive their care as quickly.
Throughout last year we progressed our elective recovery programme, to ensure our longest waiting patients are treated. On 31 March 2024, 407 patients were waiting more than 65 weeks and 47 waiting more than 78 weeks. By the end of March 2025, this reduced to just 31 patients waiting more than 65 weeks (10 being capacity-related or the patient being medically unfit to undergo treatment) and no patients waiting more than 78 weeks. We now turn our attention to reducing the number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks as outlined by the Government.
Our diabetes team, as part of the local Integrated Care System, was recognised as providing the highest quality Type 1 diabetes care in England. For Type 2 diabetes care, this area ranks second, which is an incredible achievement. Additionally, our trauma and orthopaedic team have again been identified as the highest performing in the UK National Hip Fracture Database for 2024. To claim the top spot, they provided 95.4% of hip fracture patients with care in line with the best practice tariff (a benchmark for high-quality care) and ensured 92.2% of patients underwent surgery on the day of, or day after admission, which allows for rapid intervention and faster recovery. Another huge achievement is the length of time hip fracture patients spend in hospital being the lowest in the east of England, which helps patients get home more quickly to resume their recovery, which leads to better outcomes.
It is also important to thank our My WiSH Charity for how they support our Trust. In September 2023 the charity opened the Butterfly Garden at the West Suffolk Hospital. In March, this space allowed a patient to get married to their partner before returning home. This tender moment is just one example of how their endless fundraising helps us improve the quality and experience of care.
The end of the 2024/25 was certainly a whirlwind. While we continue to review our services as part of our financial recovery, we have been working with our Integrated Care Board (ICB) to develop a plan to balance the books for the healthcare system. Within this, like many NHS trusts, we outlined our approach to reduce our workforce by 4% - around 200 whole time equivalent posts, by 31 March 2026. At the same time, the Government announced reforms, which will drastically change the NHS landscape. NHS England will be integrated into the Department of Health and Social Care over the next two years, as well as a large-scale reduction in the size of our local ICB.
The coming year is a significant one, however, I must stress that we will be here for our communities whenever they need us, and that we are committed to always improving the care we provide.
Finally, the spring weather is a great excuse to get outdoors and be active, which could be anything from a bit of gardening to a morning jog. I was delighted to learn that parkrun - a free, national initiative attended by runners of all ages and abilities – is busy promoting parkwalk. This is ideal for those who want to go at their own pace, while enjoying the same health benefits that come with keeping active, socialising, and being out in nature.
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