Patients’ wait time hits all-time high
A 4-MONTH WAITING LIST FOR ESSENTIAL SURGERY
THERE are 6,813 ear, nose and throat procedures yet to be performed in Hull hospitals, the highest of all outstanding appointments according to NHS figures.
NHS England figures showed the appointments made up around 12 per cent of the 56,544 incomplete “pathways”, treatment and procedures, currently outstanding with Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust.
The proportion of patients with waits longer than 18 weeks, the NHS’S target for waiting times, was 82.5 per cent as of August.
Ophthalmology, treatment for eye disorders, had the second highest amount with 6,540 outstanding procedures, around 11.5 per cent of the total with 68.7 per cent waiting longer than 18 weeks.
The latest figures, which refer to the amount of time between a consultant referral and the planned procedure date, were up from 53,484 at the same time last year.
It comes as NHS England’s figures showed patients at the trust faced the longest waiting times in Yorkshire at an average of 23 weeks.
Trust officials told East Riding councillors at a meeting on Tuesday, October 20, its size compared to others and the amount of services offered were partly why waits were so long.
But they added coronavirus has had an “appalling” impact on waiting lists that would likely take years to resolve.
General surgery, procedures on the liver, intestines, stomach and other abdominal organs, had the third highest outstanding amount with 5,866 or about ten per cent of the total.
The percentage of those with waits longer than 18 weeks was around half at 49.8 per cent.
Cardiology, heart and blood vessel treatment, had 4,349 outstanding procedures or almost 8 per cent of the total and 52.6 per cent with waits longer than 18 weeks.
It was followed by plastic surgery with 3,588 outstanding appointments, more than 6.3 per cent of the total, with 69.8 per cent having waits longer than 18 weeks.
There were 3,433 outstanding trauma and orthopaedic procedures, treatment for bone illnesses, which made up around 6 per cent of the total.
Around half, 50.1 per cent, faced waits of 18 weeks or more.
They were followed by urology, procedures on urinal tracts and male genitalia, dermatology or skin treatment, oral surgery and gastroenterology, related to the digestive system.
The area with the lowest number of outstanding appointments was geriatric medicine, treatment for elderly people, with 42 of which 52.4 per cent had waits longer than 18 weeks.
It was followed by general medicine, treatment for long term conditions such as diabetes, with 234, with 22.6 per cent having waits of 18 weeks or more.
Cardiothoracic procedures related to organs in the chest, had the third lowest with 364.
Around half or 51.6 per cent of those pathways carried waits of 18 weeks or longer.
Other procedures not falling into any specific category totalled 7,220 with 49 per cent of patients waiting 18 weeks or more.
About 59.4 per cent of the 56,544 outstanding procedures had waits longer than 18 weeks, compared to 46.4 per cent nationally.
The NHS Constitution’s benchmark on waiting times is to have 92 per cent of patients waiting 18 weeks or less.
The Constitution states patients have a right to be treated within that time, unless they decide not to or if it would be clinically better to wait longer.