The patients facing eight month wait for hip ops
So much for 18-week target ...
PATIENTS are having to wait more than eight months in agony for hip and knee replacements, figures reveal.
Waiting times have soared by 40 per cent in four years as the NHS struggles with growing demand.
Many needing the operations are in such severe pain they cannot walk short distances or sleep at night.
Figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show the average wait for a hip replacement is now four and a half months.
For a knee replacement, it is typically nearly five months, although many face much longer delays.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals in Truro, for example, said some patients last year waited 260 days – more than eight and a half months – for a knee replacement and 232 for a hip replacement.
At Manchester University Hospitals, patients needing a knee replaceing waited 253 days and for a hip replacement 249 days. This is twice as long as the NHS’s target of 18 weeks – or 126 days – for all types of non-emergency surgery.
Last month the Mail revealed that three-quarters of health trusts have drawn up strict pain rules to ration hip and knee replacements.
Many say patients can be referred for surgery only if they cannot sleep at night, take painkillers constantly or can walk only a few feet.
But the new figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, show that even if patients are deemed to be in enough pain, they can end up waiting longer than eight months for surgery.
Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said: ‘It is alarming to hear how long people are having to wait.
‘Our NHS is under increased pressure and creaking at the seams. It desperately needs more funding.’
Ian Eardley, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘With an ageing population, more and more people require surgery to replace hips and knees.
‘Hip and knee replacements are some of the most cost-effective procedures available. It is unacceptable that so many people are having to wait so long.’
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: ‘It is extremely worryment that older people are being forced to wait so long for operations that can make a life-changing difference. Delaying treatments can cause huge physical and emotional distress.
‘It is absolutely essential that older people who need operations are able to get them within a reasonable timescale.’
A total of 86 hospital trusts – around half of those in England – replied to the FoI requests within two months.
Among these trusts the average waiting time for a hip replacement last year was 19.3 weeks, and for a knee replacement 20.5 weeks.
The delays for both hip and knee replacements had increased by 40 per cent since 2013/14.
‘It can cause huge distress’