Hospitals waiting lists hit new record high
COVID HITS SERVICES AGAIN, CAUSING ‘MASSIVE PROBLEM’
WAITING lists for treatment at Nottingham hospitals have hit a record high, NHS figures show.
This month, 61,354 patients at Nottingham University Hospitals, which runs Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, were waiting to be seen for nonurgent treatment.
That figure has doubled since 2018, when 30,113 patients were waiting for non-urgent treatment including hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery.
The numbers are the highest since the NHS data was first recorded in 2007.
Dr Irfan Malik, senior partner at Elmswood Surgery in Sherwood, said it was a “massive problem” for the NHS – and believed it could take five to ten years for waiting lists to return to pre-pandemic levels.
He feared that patients’ quality of life is being hit by the delays and warned that “other issues” that might be “lurking” behind the non-urgent problems could include cases of cancer.
A trust spokesperson said it was focusing on cancer and suspected cancer patients and was working to get them seen “as soon as possible” based on clinical priority.
The news comes as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 continues to spread and pressure mounts on the NHS.
The Society for Acute Medicine said earlier this month that there was “immense pressure across the whole NHS frontline” which felt “far worse” than this time last year.
Figures released before the pandemic hit in October 2019 show that 45,918 patients were on waiting lists for non-urgent treatment – and 90 percent of them were seen within 18 weeks. The NHS operational standard is 92 percent.
But by October this year 65.6 percent of patients were seen within 18 weeks – and 92 out of 100 patients were seen within 47 weeks, or over 10 months.
The waiting time from referral to “first treatment” isn’t necessarily surgery, but the first time the patient is treated for the issue.
It comes as the national picture reveals that almost six million people are waiting for hospital treatment in England – the highest since records began in 2007.
Dr Malik told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is a massive problem and it won’t go away quickly.
“That 60,000 figure is really significant and these figures will get worse now with Covid rates rising again.
“What we are finding on ground level is that people are waiting quite a long time for outpatient appointments and treatment.
“Pre-covid, people were seen and sorted quickly but the trend with the pandemic has caused this.
“It will take five to ten years to resolve this.
“You can see how the NHS is under crisis and struggling.”
Dr Malik added that the hospital backlog increased demand at general practices all over the county.
He said: “A bulk of our work is chasing appointments for hospitals because patients come back and say their symptoms are getting worse and they still haven’t been seen.
“That’s a chunk of our calls for problems we can’t deal with anymore.
“We get stuck because we can’t provide hospital treatment and then they might become urgent cases.
“There might be things lurking behind these problems like cancer.
“The hospital clinics need to open up and get back to pre-covid levels – they are still lagging behind.
“I’ve noticed some patients are going private by using their savings as it is so much quicker.
“We have been here before. There were long waiting lists 20 years ago and initiatives brought them back down.
“All that hard work has been undone by Covid and massive backlogs.”
A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals said: “Our waiting list in December 2019 was 46,000. Unfortunately the impact of Covid-19 means that figure now stands at 61,354.
“We understand that delays in treatment can be stressful for people, and we are working with patients to get them in as soon as possible, based on clinical priority.”
The trust is focusing on cancer and suspected cancer patients and is also working with the private sector for additional theatre and high-dependency unit capacity.
Some treatments – including chemotherapy, radiology reporting and histology – are being outsourced.
The trust is also launching an Enhanced Perioperative Care Unit to help to reduce the pressure on critical care units.
■ The number of patients at Nottingham University Hospitals waiting to start treatment:
■December 2021: 61,354
■December 2020: 47,382
■December 2019: 45,927
■December 2018: 30,113
■December 2017: 29,084
■December 2016: 29,368
■December 2015: 26,953
■December 2014: 23,951
■December 2013: 22,990
■December 2012: 18,775
■December 2011: 15,979
■December 2010: 16,098
■December 2009: 17,494
■December 2008: 17,205
■December 2007: 12,431