Patients needing paediatric or gynaecology outpatient appointments at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust now have a central booking hub handling their referrals. The Families and Specialist Services hub went live on Monday 1st June 2026, becoming the first of several planned specialty booking centres designed to make the process more efficient.
The new Outpatients Booking Administration Service brings together a dedicated team with specialist knowledge in those areas, aiming to give staff better visibility of clinic capacity and standardise working practices. The trust said the changes should mean a more consistent experience for patients, with appointments matched more closely to available slots and prioritised more effectively.
Head of Planned Access Kim Scholes described the launch as an important milestone, thanking staff for their work since plans were first announced in December 2025. “Thank you to everyone who has contributed their time, insight and energy into developing this first hub. Your input has been crucial in designing a model that works for both patients and staff. This is just the beginning. We will continue to work with other services across the Trust to roll out additional hubs in phases, learning from this first implementation and refining our approach as we go,” she said. Further hubs for other specialties are now being planned, with details of the rollout to be confirmed later.
Patients and staff seeking more information can contact Nick Buckley or Kim Scholes at the trust. The new booking hub was set up through collaboration between operational, clinical and booking teams, who carried out pathway mapping, workflow development and infrastructure preparation ahead of the launch, according to the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
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