Backlog of patients to be tackled, but Covid has to end

A THIRD WAVE WOULD DAMAGE RECOVERY PLAN SAYS NHS CHIEF

THOUSANDS of patients have now been waiting over a year for treatment, up from zero before the pandemic struck.

A plan is in place to clear the backlog, which has now hit 8,000 patients, but it comes with warnings that a third wave, as is being seen in some European countries, could seriously hamper NHS efforts.

Urging people to get the Covid vaccine jab when offered it, Andrew Furlong, medical director at Leicester’s hospitals, said how quickly the NHS can make progress with the waiting lists depends on the amount of space they need to devote to patients with Covid19.

“This is a national problem, worldwide even. It’s not unique to Leicester,” he said.

“There is a plan, and part of that plan is based on the numbers coming down so that we have the beds, we have the intensive care units to start to do the more complex surgery, but we also need to be able to give some time to our staff to allow them to rest and recover.”

Before the pandemic struck, there were no patients who had waited over a year for treatment at the city’s hospitals, but now there are more than 8,000 on the 52-week wait list.

Non-urgent operations and elective surgery were stepped down during the worst parts of the pandemic to create bed space for critically-ill Covid patients.

Mr Furlong said: “We also need to make sure that we phase back the work in a way that mirrors the Covid situation within the community and as the numbers come down we can ramp up the amount of surgery we are doing and we can do that fairly quickly.

“That gets us back to dealing with the normal workload, but we’ve got a bulge and that’s the work that we will be working on together as a system.

“There is national, regional and local work going on at the moment to see how we can deal with that because it wasn’t as if the NHS had lots of spare capacity before this. It’s going to take time to work this through.”

Mr Furlong also urged patients to get vaccinated as and when they are offered, as protecting the community from Covid will mean the NHS can recover quicker.

He said: “In the meantime, we’ve heard that there’s a recurrence of Covid in Europe, and this is another reminder about why vaccination is so important.

“If we have another wave that comes in, all of those plans are shelved again to deal with a wave of Covid.

“So, we have plans and we know what we will be doing but it is vitally important that people do their bit, to help us get back to doing what the NHS needs to be doing, which is treating patients for all of their needs.”

Dr Mayur Lakhani, a city GP, said that general practice is also keen to get fully back to business as usual.

“When it comes to general practice, I know a lot of people will be anxious about their reviews for conditions such as diabetes or hypertension, mental health... chronic and long-term conditions,” he said.

“Everyone on our lists will be reviewed and scheduled in terms of the severity of their condition and seen over the next few months.

“There is a plan to open up when it comes to reviews for long-term conditions but I do want to emphasise to everyone that the NHS is open now, for serious conditions, ongoing conditions. If you have symptoms of cancer or a heart attack or stroke or a mental health crisis you will be able to get help, you can get help.”