Covid’s impact on hospital referrals

MEDICAL GROUP SAYS NHS FACES ‘DAUNTING AND HUGE CHALLENGE’

THE British Medical Association has said there was a “daunting and huge challenge ahead” for the NHS as latest performance statistics painted a “very bleak picture”.

Hospital trusts across England have seen the impact of decisions to cancel routine treatment from March as Covid-19 cases rose, while also seeing falling numbers referred and treated for cancer in recent months.

Research by think tank IPPR found urgent cancer referrals in England dropped by 250,000 in April to June, and warned the fall could mean thousands dying from cancers that weren’t picked up early.

Exclusive analysis shows Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has been hit just as hard when it comes to delayed treatment and falling cancer referrals.

At Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, 176 people had been waiting more than a year for routine treatment, such as hip operations, at the end of June.

That compares to 76 in May, and none in the same month in 2019.

Waiting lists have spiralled in recent months as hospitals fight the coronavirus outbreak - nationally, the number waiting over 18 weeks has risen to 1.9 million and there are 50,536 people who have been waiting for over a year.

Commenting on the figures for England, BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “These latest set of NHS performance stats are deeply concerning and paint a very bleak picture for the future delivery of patient care if urgent intervention is not forthcoming. This is despite doctors and NHS staff working tirelessly around the clock to deliver care in increasingly challenging circumstances.

“Worryingly, we are seeing record lows across the board. With the time taken to receive consultant-referred treatment now the longest on record, and with only half of patients receiving treatment within 18 weeks of being referred - the lowest on record - a daunting and huge challenge lies ahead to resume normal levels of care.

“Patients will understandably be very anxious to be able to access the care they need and, with the number of people waiting over a year for treatment the highest it has been in a decade - over 46 times as many as last June - there are real concerns that many patients’ conditions will worsen while they wait.”

He said doctors are worried about how they will manage the demand alongside the threat of a second wave.

The BMA is calling on the Government to come up with a strategy and resources to tackle the backlog and continue to care for those with Covid19, while being ready for any increase in cases.

At Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, more people received key diagnostic tests in June, with 9,246 carried out, up from 7,697 the month before.

However, that does compare to 15,166 in June last year.

The rise was seen across England as a whole - 1.2 million tests were carried out, up from 0.9 million the month before. However, more than half (53%) of patients at the trust in need of a diagnostic test had been waiting more than six weeks at the end of June.

That is an improvement from 65.4% in May, but compares to 16.6% in June last year (the target is 1%).

The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) applauded hospital imaging teams across England for working hard to tackle the backlog of scan referrals, but warned radiology teams will find it “almost impossible” to meet targets for imaging without more sustained investment.

RCR President Dr Jeanette Dickson said: “Chronic shortages of staff and modern scanners meant imaging teams were overstretched even before Covid-19 hit, and now they are not able to scan as many patients as they used to due to coronavirus infection control measures.

“NHSE leaders are now calling on local radiology teams to clear the imaging backlog, make a rapid return to pre-coronavirus levels of scanning and create ‘covid-secure’ scanning facilities. However, local teams will find it almost impossible to meet those targets.

Between April and June, 2,628 people were urgently referred by their GP to Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust with suspected cancer.

That was 1,362 fewer than the 3,990 referrals during the same period in 2019.