Lives At Risk As Patients Face 18 Month Wait For NHS Treatment

The Times newspaper has seen NHS data which shows that people in some parts of the UK are facing routine waits of more than 18 months for treatment.

A new NHS website – launched last week – makes it easy for people to check average waiting times at NHS trusts across the country. According to The Times:

The figures are updated weekly and as of last Friday there were 74 services out of 1,655 different departments with a waiting time of more than 52 weeks, and 11 with a waiting time of over 78 weeks, or a year and a half.

The NHS considered bringing in a target for average waiting times of 8.5 weeks in 2019 but the plans were put on hold because of the pandemic.

The data suggest that 232, or 14 per cent, of services would not meet that benchmark. Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Waiting for treatment, especially if you experience repeated delays and cancellations, is frustrating, so it’s disappointing to see some English trusts with waits at nearly two years.

We worry these long waits could lead to patients’ health declining perhaps to the point where treatment may become ineffective.”

A snapshot of the data on Wednesday revealed an average wait of 105 weeks for dental care at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and of 95 weeks for breast surgery at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Orthopaedic patients at Bedfordshire Hospitals had a wait of 89 weeks. In West Suffolk the wait for colorectal surgery was 80 weeks. Gynaecology patients at Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust faced a wait of 70 weeks.

There are more than six million people waiting for treatment on the NHS. That number will rise. The current Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, conceded that as many as 13 million patients may be languishing on the waiting list by 2024.

 

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