Cornwall's longest NHS hospital treatment waiting times have been revealed
Waiting lists have grown across the country due to the pandemic - and the government is promising to help ease backlogs
Last updated 14th Apr 2022
At least one patient in Cornwall had to wait almost two years to start hospital treatment after being referred by a GP, according to new research.
NHS figures obtained by the PA News Agency have revealed growing waits in the health service across the country, partly due to pandemic delays.
Stats for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust show the longest delays were under Trauma and Orthopaedics.
The numbers show no patients within the RCHT were waiting more than four years, or three years, to start treatment. The longest period of wait time recorded was 104 weeks.
A spokesperson for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust said: “Although our hospitals are still feeling the impact of high Covid infection rates our teams are doing everything they can to reduce long waiting times for routine surgery and procedures. Avoiding delays for those ready to leave hospital, to free up beds for others, plays an important part and people can help us by supporting loved ones to get home sooner.
“Our clinicians and specialty management teams individually review the needs of every patient who has been waiting for a prolonged period and we book people for their procedures according to urgency of their condition.
“Wherever possible procedures are carried out as day cases which are much less likely to be affected by emergency admissions, and our teams at West Cornwall and St Michael’s are increasing the number of people they are able to treat.”
Nationally there were a number of patients in England who had been waiting for vital NHS treatment for over three years.
Nearly 100 people have been on waiting lists for over three years for NHS pre-planned hospital care, with a handful of other patients waiting nearly four years to be seen.
Many of the patients on the waiting lists are likely to be in pain or discomfort as they wait to hear from a specialist for the specifics of their referral.
Over a quarter of those waiting are for trauma centres and orthopaedic care, which looks after hips, knees and elbows.
Figures provided by NHS England found that at the end of January, there were 23,778 people in England waiting over two years to start routine hospital treatment.
This number is almost nine times higher than the figure in April 2021, when only 2,608 patients had been waiting over two years to be seen.
Currently, there are over 6 million people in England waiting for NHS hospital care, with some on the list since before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Speaking on the publication of the figures, Tracey Loftis, head of policy and public affairs at charity Versus Arthritis, called on the NHS to release the full figures so no patients are being left behind.
"Hundreds of thousands of people with arthritis are waiting for treatment in increasing pain, their mobility and quality of life getting worse. As longer waits increase the chances of complications, waiting several years for surgery is completely unacceptable," she said.
"The NHS must start publishing how long people are waiting beyond two years for treatment and report separately on hip and knee replacement waiting times, one of the worst-hit specialities in planned care. It is imperative that progress is made at reducing the backlog of people waiting for these operations."
Responding to the claims, an NHS spokesperson said: "NHS staff are working flat out to clear the backlogs that have inevitably built up throughout the pandemic with local teams using innovative approaches to reducing waits, such as one-stop shops and Super Saturdays, all while we continue to see busy emergency services and high numbers of hospitalised Covid patients.
"The NHS is expecting a busy Easter weekend for its staff across the country and we continue to urge people to come forward for the care they need, using NHS 111 online where possible - the NHS is here for you."
The government has aimed to eliminate all NHS backlogs for those who have been waiting for two or more years by July 2022, with specific NHS waiting times due to be published by the government on Thursday (April 14th).