The Leeds-based firm added that it was clear that the pent-up demand for surgery was continuing to increase and healthcare providers “are under pressure to find innovative ways of increasing productivity and reducing waiting times and costs”.

“The NHS is beginning to utilise a seven-day operating week for surgery as well as continued use of the private sector to reduce the backlog; similar initiatives are also being seen in other key markets,” Surgical Innovations said in a trading update.

Trading continues to rebuild towards 2019 levels, with group revenues in the first five months of 2021 at least 80 per cent of those achieved for the comparable period in 2019, over 50 per cent up on the comparable period in 2020.

Surgical Innovations says substantial levels of restocking orders during the first quarter in Japan and USA have been encouraging and highlight both increasing activity and confidence in forward demand in those key markets.

The UK market, whilst negatively affected in the first quarter of 2021 by the second wave, has seen sales remaining higher than those seen during the first wave and continuing to improve recording monthly sales in May 2021 at the highest level since September 2019.

The Leeds-based firm is “very positive” about its mid to long term prospects, although it remains cautious on short term forecasting as uncertainties remain over the possible effects of further waves of Covid-19 across multiple geographies.

The global vaccination programmes have broken the link between infection and hospitalisation, boosting confidence that the resumption in elective surgery will continue to increase, as healthcare providers seek to slow and then reverse the current growth in waiting lists.