Greater Manchester patients to benefit from faster care

Date published: 03/06/2008

80,000 people a year in Greater Manchester will benefit from a new service, which will make sure that they can get faster access to NHS treatment if they are ill.

Care UK has been announced as the provider for new Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services (CATS) that are scheduled to start in Winter 2008. The new CATS scheme will provide faster access to Musculoskeletal (Orthopaedics and Rheumatology), General Surgery, Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), Gynaecology and Urology services.

NHS organisations in the North West have helped to pioneer these new types of services, which provide a “one-stop shop” approach. If a patient is referred to a CATS service by their GP, they will have all the diagnostic tests they need in one appointment; and in some cases they will be able to get minor treatment on the same day.

Health Minister, Ben Bradshaw said: “This is great news for patients in the North West, as the new CATS facilities will provide ease of access for patients. The new CATS services will help to reduce waiting times in existing NHS hospitals across the Greater Manchester area.”

Mike Farrar, chief executive of NHS North West said: “These services are being introduced because we want to bring down waiting times for people who need NHS treatment even further. We know that people in Greater Manchester have some of the worst health in the country and we want them to have the best health care possible when they are ill. We believe when someone is ill it is important for them to have a diagnosis and any treatment they need as quickly as possible. We know that this is what the doctors and nurses who care for them want.”

Mike Parish, Chief Executive of Care UK said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with the NHS in Greater Manchester to provide convenient, high quality services for NHS patients. CATS is an innovative new way of delivering NHS services which will benefit the public by helping to provide more timely diagnosis and increasing the choice of services available.”

CATS are now widely recognised by all sectors of the NHS as being valuable and existing CATS services in Greater Manchester have been praised nationally as best practice.