Waiting times having ‘devastating impact’
LONG waiting times for NHS treatment in Wales are having a devastating impact of people’s mental and physical health, it is claimed.
The Board of Community Health Councils, a watchdog of NHS Wales services, has produced a new report on the impact of delayed treatment on patients.
It found that patients who experienced long waits risked long-term reliance on painkillers, mental health problems, unemployment and family breakdown.
Some reported feelings of powerlessness and distress, and experiencing waits of 100 weeks or more with no clear indication of how much longer they may need to wait.
The report added that reviewing performance against the monthly referral to treatment times (RTTs) targets does not capture the wider and sometimes life-changing impact of these delays.
Speaking about the report’s findings, Mutale Merrill, chairwoman of the Board of CHCs said: “Some of the stories we heard as part of the collation of this report were extremely distressing.
“As well as the effects on people’s physical and mental health, as well as their finances and employment, there are accounts of patients feeling a loss of dignity and having to rely on others to carry out intimate personal care because they can no longer do it for themselves.
“Others reported a breakdown in relationships or a feeling that their entire lives were on hold; a theme that carried through almost every story we heard.”
According to latest figures there are currently 420,000 patients waiting for treatment in Wales.
More than 19,000 (4.5%) patients have been waiting more than nine months and around 8% of patients have been waiting between six and nine months.
Ms Merrill added that the failure to meet targets has become an “accepted norm” and does not tell the real story of patient suffering.
She added: “The number of stories in this report equate to only a small proportion of the missed targets reported each month by the NHS in Wales.
“For those who told their stories, this measure is unlikely to hold much meaning. Instead, most people measured their wait in terms of the impact on their day-to-day life, their finances, their relationships, their careers and their independence.
“It is difficult to see how clear, long-established targets on waiting times are meaningful to anyone. As they stand, they are not providing assurance to the public nor driving improvement.
“The Welsh Government needs to look again at how it measures NHS performance.”
In response the Welsh Government said progress was being made on waiting times.
A spokeswoman said: “We have been open about the challenges faced by the NHS in Wales and acknowledge some patients have been waiting longer than is acceptable.
“We are working with health boards to make improvements and our investment in the Welsh NHS has never been higher.
“We provided an additional £50m in 2017-18 to build on progress made over the last two years and reduce the number of people waiting longer than the maximum target of 36 weeks.
“Progress is being made on waiting times. At the end of February, 87.8% of patients were treated within less than 26 weeks, the median wait was 9.6 weeks, an improvement of 0.2 days compared to the same time last year, and the number over 36 weeks was 34% lower than the high of August 2015.
“This compares favourably with the trend in England, where the number on the waiting list was 3% higher in February 2018 than the previous year and the numbers waiting over 18 weeks and 52 weeks are at the highest level ever.”
Here are some of the anonymous patient case studies in the report:
■ Loss of dignity
“I have now been suffering the indignity of having to wear a catheter for almost 12 months. During this period I have suffered five urinary tract infections.
“Initially the district nurses changed my catheter at the local surgery but they began to have problems and now the catheter has to be changed at the hospital.”
■ Loneliness
“The present situation is causing me a good deal of stress.
“I am getting periodically depressed, my marriage is suffering and I am no longer aware of what action I can take to resolve the situation.”
■ Going private
“I had my hip replacement on November 1, 2017 at a private hospital, close to where my daughter lives in England, at a cost of £10,500.
“If I had known I would have been waiting for this since I was first referred in October 2015, I would have had it done privately long since.”
■ Relationships
“While I was waiting the pain in my breast got worse and worse.
“It meant I couldn’t play with my grandchildren as I normally would because it was just too painful to lift them up or have them jump on me.”