Patients waiting over 18 weeks set to double as NHS prioritises emergency care

Public urged to be ‘sharpelbowed’ about treatment, with operations list due to hit five million by 2020

THE number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for surgery is due to double in the next three years, the health service has been warned.

Analysis based on official NHS figures suggests the total number waiting for operations will reach almost five million in 2020, an increase of almost two million since 2015.

On current trends, that will include more than 800,000 patients waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment, a rise from 360,000 today.

The research was carried out by the NHS Partners Network, which represents independent providers of NHS care and has urged patients to be more “sharp-elbowed” about getting the treatment needed.

The organisation said too few patients were aware of a legal right to choose where to have NHS treatment, including the option to choose locations with shorter waiting lists, including private hospitals.

Last month the head of the NHS admitted that times for routine operations are likely to grow longer, as cash-strapped hospitals prioritise emergency and cancer care.

Senior doctors said an NHS target to carry out 92 per cent of non-urgent operations within 18 weeks of referral had been “jettisoned in all but name” as the health service struggles with demand.

Last night David Hare, chief executive of the NHS Partners Network, urged patients to use their legal right to choose where to have treatment.

Patients referred for most hospital care are supposed to be able to choose where they will be seen, or to switch provider if the waiting list where they are referred is more than 18 weeks. But NHS research shows just 47 per cent of people are aware of such rights.

Mr Hare said the public should be reminded of their rights in order to speed up their treatment at a time when NHS is “desperately short of elective capacity”. He added that on average, independent providers were able to treat NHS patients six days quicker than health service providers could manage, at the same costs to the taxpayer.

Calling on the Government to take “urgent action” to give patients more power to access quicker care, he said they otherwise risked “unacceptably long waits for treatment which not only leaves them in pain for longer than required, but could also lead to medical complications”.

An NHS England spokesman said it had more than doubled the number of NHS hip and knee operations since the early 2000s. It added: “Most NHS operations are now done in well under 12 weeks, and patients will continue to be able to choose where their operation takes place.”