Prior to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the processes and pathways for patients requiring unscheduled surgical care were delivered in several locations around NHS Tayside. During the first wave, red, amber and green surgical pathways were implemented.  

This required rapid and wide-reaching re-organisation of capacity and flow within unscheduled surgery. Unscheduled surgery is a core component of unscheduled services and interfaces with other acute services, many of which were undergoing re-structuring themselves. 

This session will look at the alterations in footprint and pathways which were implemented to achieve these changes.  

Following this re-organisation, NHS Tayside performed a system-wide review of all the services involved, and created the Tayside Unscheduled Surgery Improvement Project (TUSIP).  

The review process included:

• Surgical specialty engagement sessions using a novel online platform;
• Specialty process mapping;
• Stakeholder engagement sessions (Primary Care, emergency department, flow navigation hub); 
• Data review; and 
• Re-emergence planning.

This session will also discuss the results of the review and explore recommendations for further service improvement.