More than 9,000 waiting over year for hospital treatment
SCALE OF BACKLOG REVEALED AS PANDEMIC CAUSES HUGE DELAYS
THE number of people waiting more than a year for treatment and operations at our hospitals has risen above 9,000.
Since the start of the pandemic, our hospitals have reduced many treatments and surgeries to prevent the spread of Covid-19. This has now left scores of residents waiting longer than a year for routine treatment.
But Covid-19 inpatient levels are continuing to fall at our hospitals with only 21 now at the Royal Derby Hospital, Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Queen’s Hospital, in Burton, down from a peak in January of more than 700.
THE number of people waiting more than a year for treatment and operations at our hospitals continues to surge and has now risen above 9,000.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than a year ago, our hospitals have carried out very few elective – often called “routine” – treatments and surgeries.
This was to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and free up as much bed space and staff as possible to safely and effectively cater for patients with the virus.
However, this decision has left scores of residents waiting longer than a year for routine treatment and surgeries such as hip and knee replacements which may have been causing them consistent pain and discomfort for months on end.
These are not emergency surgeries and cancer treatments have continued, but they are ailments which can have a significant impact on physical and mental wellbeing over time, which hospital leadership recognises.
Usually, there is not a single patient on the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust’s 52-week waiting list but this reached 45 during the early days of the pandemic 13 months ago – an unusually large number for the trust at the time.
Since then, the number of patients waiting more than a year for treatment at Derby and Burton’s hospitals has leapt from 45 to more than 9,000.
Data up to the end of January had this figure at 6,629, increasing by more than a third (36%) in under three months.
Five months ago, Derbyshire health chiefs said waiting list woes could take six months to “stabilise” and that their aim was to “slow the growth” so that staff could begin working through and reducing the monumental backlog.
At that time, in November, there were 3,140 people on Derby and Burton’s 52-plus weeks waiting list – which has since tripled.
The waiting list dilema is going to be the key challenge facing our hospital staff once Covid itself moves to the backburner and hospital trust leadership is clear it is an issue which could take several years to bring under control.
It is also an issue which will last longer than the pandemic itself and for which staff will need time to compose and have a muchdeserved break before moving forward. Staff are already exhausted and some are battling post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the trials of the past 13 months.
Gavin Boyle, the chief executive at the Derby and Burton Trust, said this week: “We have been able to maintain a large part of our emergency and urgent service during the pandemic, for the majority of our patients have not had Covid-19.
“However, we have done relatively little routine activity such as planned operations. As a result, we now have a huge backlog of patients waiting for routine surgery across the country and here at UHDB.
“Before the pandemic, no-one at UHDB waited longer than 52 weeks to have a routine procedure and for most considerably less than this. It is sobering to note that today [April 12] we have over 9,000 patients waiting longer than a year for treatment.
“Although we might describe this type of activity as ‘routine’ – it will not feel like that to those people who are now waiting.
“For many on our waiting lists, their operation is needed to relieve pain or to allow them to work or play a full part in day-to-day life. The fact that so many are waiting so long weighs heavily on our minds at present.
“I have been involved recently in a number of conversations with our clinical leaders about our plan to tackle this backlog. I’ve been really impressed by their willingness to think differently about how we deliver services so that we can treat our long waiting patients as soon as possible.
“It’s a huge challenge and will take perhaps one or two years. A task of this magnitude will not be met by simply pedaling faster.
“We need to change gear – possibly get a new bike – maybe one with a motor! What I mean is that we need to find new ways of delivering care which will help speed our progress. Smarter not harder.
“We need to use our improvement practice methodology to deconstruct our clinical pathways and remove any unnecessary steps, find better ways of doing things, taking full advantage of new tech, particularly digital, and make sure all of our valuable skills are used to maximum effect with everybody working at the top of their licence. We will need to think differently, and we will need to work differently, if we are to make good on our promise to those people who are waiting.” Derbyshire health and care organisations agreed at a meeting in early February to focus on protecting theatre (operations) and bed capacity to ensure orthopaedic surgery is maintained throughout “periods of operational challenge”. This is the area of health that is home to the most patients waiting more than a year (2,626) for treatment and includes hip and knee surgeries.
As of December, figures showed one in three Derbyshire hospital patients are now waiting in excess of four months for treatment – 36.9%, up from 13.2% the previous year. This equates to 12,133 additional Derbyshire patients.
Before the pandemic, no-one at UHDB waited longer than 52 weeks to have a routine procedure. Gavin Boyle