HOSPITAL WAITING TIMES SOAR

NHS IN GREATER MANCHESTER STRUGGLED TO MEET DEMAND AS FIGURES REACHED 10-YEAR HIGH

THE number of patients who have lengthy waits for routine hospital treatment in Greater Manchester has soared, according to new NHS figures.

The figures reveal that hospital trusts across the region struggled to meet demand over the summer months with thousands of patients left on waiting lists.

More than 15,400 people waited to start treatment for more than 18 weeks under the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) as of the end of July.

This is the highest number on the trust’s waiting list in more than a decade - since May 2008.

Under national targets, 92 per cent of patients must get a referral to treatment within 18 weeks.

But at the end of July, the number of patients who got a referral within the time limit was only 83 per cent.

Trust bosses at MFT, which runs nine hospitals in the city including Manchester Royal Infirmary, said an increase in GP referrals and ‘capacity constraints’ were some of the factors behind the missed target.

A trust spokesperson said: “The Trust has a plan to improve waiting list performance and achieve the trajectory agreed with NHS Improvement for 2019/20.

“MFT is continuing to manage increased demand for urgent and emergency services (5 per cent increase in A&E attendances across July/August).

“Whilst the overall MFT performance was 85.8 per cent for August, the Trust has a number of specialist EDs and walk-in centres which deliver the national 95 per cent standard.

“There are a number of factors, including demand, which impact on delivery of the standard and the Trust is continuing to work with partners to deliver local plans and new ways of working to improve access for patients.”

Manchester was not the only trust feeling the pressure in the summer months.

At Bolton NHS Trust, there were 3,569 patients who had waited more than 18 weeks for treatment, the joint highest number since records began in 2007.

Bolton recorded its joint worst performance since September 2009 at 84.9 per cent while Salford Royal saw its worst performance since May 2009 at 87.5 per cent.

Rae Wheatcroft, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “In line with many other trusts in the country, we have seen an increase in urgent and cancer referrals year-round, which we treat in order of clinical priority.

“This increase, along with a set budget and time available to treat patients, has meant that some people needing more routine procedures have unfortunately had to wait longer.

“We are constantly looking at ways of how we can provide our services more effectively, including transforming the way we provide outpatient appointments.”

A&E waiting times have also suffered, with emergency departments struggling to meet the four-hour waiting target last month.

Stockport NHS Trust (where 67.8 per cent of patients waited less than four hours), Manchester University NHS Trust (85.8 per cent), Pennine Acute Hospitals (81.7 per cent), and Salford Royal (88.7 per cent) all saw their worst August performance in five years.

There were 620,454 people across England who had been waiting more than 18 weeks for hospital treatment at the end of July.

This was up from 601,103 at the end of June, and is the highest number since April 2008.

Just 85.8 per cent of patients referred had been waiting less than 18 weeks at the end of July.

Five out of eight cancer waiting targets were also missed, as was a target for how long those who need diagnostic tests have to wait.