8,117 WAITING MORE THAN 52 WEEKS FOR OPS
Fall in the number waiting for two years
THE number of patients in Staffordshire waiting more than a year for elective treatment has increased to more than 8,000 – although the number waiting two years is falling.
There were 8,117 people waiting in excess of 52 weeks between referral and treatment in March, up from 7,752 in February, according to the latest data from the county’s clinical commissioning groups.
But the number waiting in excess of 104 weeks fell from 788 to 639.
Waiting times shot up during the pandemic due to elective treatments being postponed during covid surges.
The NHS in Staffordshire declared a critical incident in January, leading to cancelled operations at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
A meeting of the CCGS’ governing bodies was told that bringing down waiting times was the priority, with a target of completely eliminating twoyear waits by the end of June.
Accountable officer Marcus Warnes said things were moving in the right direction on 104-week waits, but the situation remained challenging.
He said: “It’s an improving position but we’ve got a long way to go. If you look at when we came into the pandemic, something I was really proud of was the fact that we had no patients anywhere on a waiting list for more than a year, let alone two years.
“The fact that we had hundreds of patients waiting more than two years was not a place where any of us wanted to be.
“All of our providers are making significant strides in terms of reducing the number of two-year waits, and that will be zero by the end of June, that’s the target we’re committed to delivering.
“We’ve done a lot of work in terms of reducing the number of 52-week waits, and that is going to take some time to work through.
“New patients are coming on waiting lists, and some of that will be unmet demand that’s built during the pandemic that now needs to be seen, plus those patients already on the list.
“It will be a delicate balancing act for all of our providers in terms of meeting the demand that’s coming through the door, as well as reducing the number of long waiters.”
NHS officials will give members of Staffordshire County Council’s health and care committee an update on elective recovery today.
The report from Helen Ashley, director of strategy at University Hospitals of North Midlands, says that as of May 15, the trust has 4,579 patients waiting more than a year for treatment, and 255 waiting more than two years.
Providers have submitted plans for eliminating 104-week waits by the end of June, but Ms Ashley says that UHNM has flagged a ‘significant risk’ of not achieving this target on time, with complexity of surgery and patient choice being key factors.
A number of measures are being implemented to reduce long waits, including use of the private sector.