The final NOA Quarterly meeting of 2019 took place on Friday 29 November. The meeting, which had a technology theme, had representation from NOA members across the country. It was opened by NOA Deputy Director, Ann Hoey, who welcomed guests – many of whom were first time attendees.
NOA Lead CEO, Mark Brandreth, CEO of the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) Orthopaedic Hospital introduced the theme for the day which was inspired by feedback from members during 2019. Mark also highlighted the NOA Annual Report 2018/19 which is now available on the NOA website and was available at the meeting. Mark then led a member warm-up session where attendees introduced themselves “from north to south”. This exercise really highlighted the breadth of NOA’s membership which spans the country.
The first presentation of the day was from Professor Phillip Breedon of Nottingham Trent University who looked at the development of robotic assisted surgery for spines. The presentation sparked lots of questions particularly around wearable technology and navigation.
Following two short videos showcasing the Holocare Orthonav technology, the second presentation of the day kicked off led by Professor Angus Wallace, Rtd Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon, Nottingham University Hospitals. Professor Angus gave attendees a look into how shoulder AR-throscopy training could be conducted using a smart phone as a simulator. Attendees then had the opportunity to try out the simulator during the morning coffee break.
After an interactive break buzzing with networking, the meeting continued with a virtual clinic focus. First up, Professor Angus Wallace returned with a look at how virtual outpatient clinics could transform outpatient care – exploring at the benefits and challenges around this. Michelle Angus, Consultant Physiotherapist at Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences Salford Care Organisation then took NOA members through the virtual spinal clinic at Salford Royal.
Though the theme of the day was technology, it was acknowledged that such technologies normally come a great cost. With this in mind, in addition to exploring some of the latest innovations and technology, the meeting also covered cost savings. David Rees, Orthopaedic Project Manager supported by Peter Earnshaw, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Clinical Director of Surgery from Guys and St Thomas’ kicked this off by demonstrating how savings have been released at the Trust from current processes. These savings support reinvestments in to services and support innovations.
Following a lunch, guest speaker, Steve Vandyken from Collaborative Procurement Partnership gave NOA members an update on ongoing activity at CPP to support the new NHS Supply Chain TOS2 Framework due to go live in February 2020.
The NOA Tarrif steering group then gave an update on the alliance’s work around tariff which was followed by representatives from NOA member organisations giving updates on projects and activities including cost improvement programmes (Hannah Witty, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Amanda Gaston, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital – ROH). Matthew Revell and Steve White (MDs from The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust and Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt) presented jointly with new ideas and potentially a new vision for how we develop the NOA Quality Standards.
The final presentation of the day came from Sumedh Talkwalkar from Wrightington Wigan and Leigh on behalf of NOA Lead Clinician, Peter Kay, WWL who looked ahead to the NOA in 2020.
The next NOA quarterly meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 3 March 2020. Further details are here or you can email info.noa@nhs.net to register your interest in attending.