Elderly left waiting more than a year for new hips and knees
Surgeons warn backlog of cases could take half a decade to clear
SCOTLAND’S elderly hip and knee surgery patients are struggling on waiting lists of more than a year, surgeons have warned.
The number of people facing a lengthy wait for surgery has risen because of the Covid pandemic and they should now be reassessed to see if their condition has deteriorated, surgeons say.
The warning has come from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, which says it could take five years to address the backlog.
Meanwhile, official NHS figures reveal inpatient waiting times for all specialties have soared while the number treated each month has shrunk to around two-thirds of the figure a year ago.
NHS Scotland data reveal that 90 per cent of inpatients seen in December 2019 had been treated within 176 days of being added to the waiting list. But it took 313 days for the NHS to treat 90 per cent of the patients seen in December 2020.
The 90 per cent figure is an important marker of how well the NHS is performing for the bulk of its patients.
A total of 45,564 patients were given inpatient treatment in December 2020 compared with 69,187 the previous December.
But it could be five years before the NHS returns to normal, doctors warn.
Before the pandemic, patients were given a 12-week waiting time guarantee – although that target was missed hundreds of thousands of times. Now, patients are being assessed into priority groups depending on how serious their condition is because the NHS cannot operate at the same level as previously. Many beds are ringfenced for Covid patients, and enhanced cleaning regimes slow down the rate of procedures.
While emergency patients are still treated within 24 hours, those whose conditions are less serious will wait at least 12 weeks. But the reality is they may wait far longer.
Professor Michael Griffin, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said: ‘Many of the patients who fall into the lowpriority category are elderly and are waiting on procedures such as hip and knee replacements. While these surgical procedures may not be lifesaving, they can be life-changing.’
He said that although some patients ‘may be relatively fit and able to continue their daily lives in a normal way’ for the time being, ‘others will be struggling and understandably anxious about the long wait they are now facing before they can undergo surgery’.
Professor Griffin added: ‘Some patients may have been classified as low priority long before the pandemic, and their condition could have significantly worsened over the last year. That’s why it is absolutely vital that all surgical patients are urgently assessed again and reprioritised accordingly.’
He also warned that it ‘could take as long as five years to fully address the surgical backlog across the UK’.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged that a re-elected SNP Government would deliver eight new elective treatment centres and recruit an additional 1,500 staff by 2025, dedicated to planned treatments and specialising in procedures such as hip and knee replacements.
‘Condition could have significantly worsened’