Patients face ‘shocking ’wait of 1,000 days for surgery

PATIENTS have been left waiting more than 1,000 days for treatment for routine surgery, NHS figures show.

At some of the worst-affected hospital trusts in England, they have been stuck on waiting lists for almost four years, according to figures obtained under freedom of information laws.

At 15 hospital trusts, patients have experienced long delays in elective surgery including knee replacements, spinal surgery and neurosurgery.

Meanwhile, there are 31 hospital trusts where people have waited over two years for surgery, including a gastric bypass, shoulder replacements and hip replacements.

The figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, come as the NHS is in the midst of a major winter crisis, with warnings this week that hospitals are running out of oxygen because of the number of patients being treated in corridors and ambulances.

The leading supplier of oxygen to the NHS has issued a notice warning that five types of cylinder are now being rationed and are only being exchanged on a “full for empty” basis. Two ambulance trusts have recently warned staff of oxygen shortages, with East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust warning that demand for portable oxygen was “higher than during the first wave of the pandemic”.

Some of the hospitals with the longest waits included University Hospitals Plymouth, with one patient waiting more than 1,400 days, while the figure stood at over 1,300 days at North Middlesex University Hospital.

At Nottingham University Hospitals, patients have also been waiting for in excess of 1,300 days for surgery with 546 patients kept waiting for more than 18 months.

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said the delays in surgery are “scandalous”.

She said: “Far too many people around the country are being left to wait in pain for a routine operation.”

An NHS spokesman said: “The NHS is doing everything possible to reduce long waits for patients including offering people the chance to be treated quicker elsewhere in the country, alongside dedicated surgery hubs to increase the number of procedures.”