Surgeons at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham performed a record number of operations in a single day in an effort to help cut waiting times.
The ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgical team operated on 10 children on the same day last month, removing tonsils and adenoids - double the usual daily number.
It was done as part of a High Intensity Theatre (HIT) list which are designed to safely cut the backlog for non-emergency surgery caused by the pandemic. They focus on one type of routine surgical procedure to limit surgeon down-time.
ENT consultant David Pennell said: “We had one team operating on a patient while the other team was getting the next child ready for their anaesthetic.
"To ensure no theatre time was lost, we also had back-up patients lined up in case there were any cancellations.
"ENT surgery, particularly tonsillectomies, make up the bulk of our paediatric waiting list."
Jayne Black, chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, described it as an example of “excellent team work".
She said: “Thanks to everyone’s efforts our waiting list for tonsillectomies is reducing, and with the team planning to host future HIT lists for this procedure, the backlog will be cleared sooner."
Ambulance response times across the East Midlands have been under heavy scrutiny in recent months, with recent data reflecting long wait times. Data also taken from December 2022 suggest that East Midlands Ambulances (EMA) took an average of 10 minutes and 54 seconds to arrive at category 1 calls- a response to a life threatening condition, such as cardiac arrest.
The NHS set a range of targets for responding to call outs and the category 1 target currently sits at seven minutes. It is hoped that an ambulance can reach a category 2 call- responding to a serious condition, such as a stroke, which may need urgent transport- in 18 minutes. EMAs average is currently two hours and 16 minutes.
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