News

An enhanced recovery team that supports colorectal patients at Kettering General Hospital has now been shortlisted for three national awards after delivering some of the shortest post-surgery patient stays in hospital in the country.

 The team have just been told they are in the finals of the HSJ Awards 2026 in both the Digitalising Patient Care and Driving Efficiency through Technology Award categories.

 It builds on their achievement in July of being shortlisted to the finals of the Nursing Times Awards 2026 in the Technology and Data in Nursing section.

 The programme is delivered by team of doctors and nurses working together including Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Melanie Moore, Colorectal Enhanced Recovery Progamme Lead Practitioner, Sarah Raubenheimer, the Geddington Surgical Ward team, consultant colorectal surgeon, Mr Ashish Kelkar, and Associate Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Mr Faizal Rayan.

 It works by a combination of teamwork and technology through a mobile phone app called PostOp.

 Patients are helped to prepare for surgery and supported through their operation and beyond using a mobile phone app connected directly to the clinical team monitoring their recovery.

 Advanced Nurse Practitioner Melanie Moore, who nominated the team for the awards, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we are now in the finals for three national awards for our enhanced recovery programme.

 “But the real benefits of our work are for our patients because the programme enables them to have their operation and then go home quickly knowing they will be actively supported by us during their rehabilitation via the mobile phone app.

“The app technology helps us to capture information such as high-quality pictures of wounds, feedback on how people are feeling and their pain, it enables us to reassure patients they are experiencing what would be expected and their regular feedback helps us to spot any potential problems early.

“Overall our enhanced recovery programme means our length of stay for colorectal cancer surgery is now 3.5 days - the shortest in the country out of all 118 acute hospitals - and we also have some of the shortest stays for other kinds of colorectal surgery.

 “We have also estimated that it saves between about £58,739 to £79,949 per 100 patients because it reduces readmissions and people going to the emergency department with concerns.”

The app and the enhanced care pathway date back to 2020 when KGH Associate Specialist in Trauma and Orthopaedics at KGH, Mr Faizal Rayan, worked with an innovative London based startup, founded by NHS clinicians, to create the mobile phone app Post Op.

Research on the patient experience of using the app has shown:

·       96% of app messaging users were satisfied with the team response

·       90% were satisfied with the response time

·       82% of patients would recommend using it and 88% found it easy to use

·       83% felt it aided their recovery and 86% reported greater confidence as a result of using it.

The HSJ Award finals are being held on November 19, 2026. The Nursing Times award finals are being held on October 29, 2026.