Getting It Right First Time’s online toolkit supporting the development of surgical hubs has picked up two awards for excellence in orthopaedics.

The extensive resource – developed in a collaboration between GIRFT and the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC) – won the top awards for Partnership and Integration Initiative and Innovation in Orthopaedics at the National Orthopaedic Alliance Excellence in Orthopaedics Awards, held at a ceremony in Birmingham.

The GIRFT and SWLEOC toolkit guides NHS colleagues through the detailed processes of setting up and running an effective surgical hub, supporting a key NHS priority to tackle waiting times and ensure patients have timely access to the surgery they need.

The content drills down into SWLEOC’s specific working practices and experiences and offers the opportunity to learn from an established centre of excellence. Spanning all stages of the patient pathway – from referrals to post-operative review and discharge – it also focuses in detail on operational considerations such as staffing, IT and estate.

It is supported by an elective surgical hub forum, where users can share information and have conversations to support implementation.

The SWLEOC centre is an established elective hub, widely acknowledged as a model of excellence for elective orthopaedic care. Staff at the centre perform around 5,200 procedures a year, 3,000 of them joint replacements.

Prior to the toolkit, the centre attracted a high number of visitors to the site to learn from their best practice. The toolkit has enabled NHS colleagues to follow the SWLEOC lead without the need for an on-site visit.