UHNM launches partnership with GP surgery

The health centre is now providing specialist clinics and community work for the trust, which is increasingly offering services to patients in south Cheshire.

Wayne Jaffe, a consultant plastic surgeon and clinical lead at the trust, said: “Plastic and reconstructive surgery is a highly specialised service, characterised by the careful preparation of the patient’s skin and tissues and by precise cutting and suturing techniques, to achieve optimum functional and cosmetic outcome with minimal scarring.

“Our complex procedures involve a general anaesthetic and a short inpatient stay at the hospital itself, but plastic surgeons also deal with highly skilled but less major procedures that can be carried out as day case procedures and can now be delivered in the community to the convenience of local patients.

“Dr [Lalit] Gurnani and his colleagues [at Nantwich Health Centre] have been incredibly supportive and their efforts are bringing huge benefits to their patients.”

University Hospitals of North Midlands serves a local population of 700,000 in Staffordshire and acts as a tertiary centre for the wider population of 3 million in the north west Midlands and north Wales. The trust has committed, as part of its “2025Vision” strategy, to move care closer to people’s homes, increase patient choice and develop regional models for specialist services.

The trust is looking at the possibility of setting up similar initiatives for plastic surgery at GP practices in Telford, Shrewsbury and Macclesfield.