The national service specification for vascular services states that vascular surgery services should be organised into networks, to ensure the service is safe and effective by concentrating an adequate volume of procedures into a hospital provided by appropriately skilled vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists with 1:6 or greater on-call rota; along with the right provision of facilities. This has also been reinforced by the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) work, which acknowledges that services are better delivered as part of a network.
In August 2017 NHS England Specialised Commissioning agreed the designation of East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (ENHT) as the Specialised Vascular Hub and Network lead, with West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT) and The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) as integrated members of the Network which will continue to provide Vascular Services as spoke centres following integration.
Since then, the three organisations have been working together with Specialised Commissioners to develop and agree combined clinical pathways and to undertake organisation-specific impact assessments to work through the proposed changes.
Since March 2020 patients who need arterial interventions and surgeries are transferred to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. Personal and clinical information pertinent to the treatment of this patient group will be shared between the NHS organisations in accordance with the My Care Record Information Sharing Agreement.
For more information about how East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust processes your Personal Data, as well as information about your individual rights, please see the Trust’s Privacy Notice.
For more information about the My Care Record approach to sharing data between health and social care organisations, please see the My Care Record website.
