Derbyshire NHS leader apologises for waiting list delays
Thousands of patients have been waiting for surgery and treatment for more than a year
A Derby and Burton hospital leader has apologised for the continued delay for thousands of patients who have been waiting for surgery and treatment for more than a year.
There are around 6,000 Derby and Burton hospital trust patients who have been waiting more than a year for surgery and/or treatment.
Usually there would not be a single patient waiting this long but, at one stage, Covid lockdowns pushed this list up to more than 10,000.
Hospital leaders expect the list of patients waiting a year for treatment to peak again next spring and take up to four years to quash.
Board reports say that elective “optional” surgeries – such as hip replacements – are usually reduced over the winter to protect staff capacity elsewhere.
However, due to the size of the waiting list backlog, this must also be protected this winter “if further increases in waiting times is to be avoided”.
Dr Kathy McLean, chair of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, said at a trust board meeting yesterday (September 14): “Whilst the organisation and the system is working really hard to reduce our waiting list, we recognise that for anybody who is personally waiting, hearing that others are being treated is really not a huge help.
“We would like to extend our sympathy and apologies for people who are waiting.
“We all understand the individual impact and we of course empathise with that.”
Dr McLean wrote in the board papers: “I feel for everyone who is waiting for treatment and am conscious that the delays – which we wouldn’t have accepted pre-pandemic but understand it is the position we find ourselves – need to be reduced.
“We are working to treat everyone based on clinical need and are increasing capacity where it is safe to do so.”
Gavin Boyle, chief executive of the trust, which oversees the Royal Derby Hospital and Queen’s Hospital in Burton, said this month: “We know that during the pandemic, patients have waited longer than we’d wish for care and we’re working hard to address these backlogs.
“We are making good progress with our recovery and our treatment waits for time critical conditions, such as cancer, are close to pre-pandemic levels. However, we also know that those waiting for ‘routine’ operations and treatments are still waiting too long.
“There are distressing stories across the NHS where patients develop severe complications whilst waiting for treatment. This can happen, including here at UHDB, as the greater numbers you have waiting and the longer that they wait increases the risk.
“This weighs heavily on our minds, and we are constantly focussed on accelerating our progress in this area.
“We suspended much of our routine operating for safety reasons during the peak of the pandemic and by the end of March, we had around 10,500 patients waiting longer than a year for treatment.
“Progress is being made and as of today, we have less than 6,000 waiting over a year. But it must be remembered that before the pandemic there was no one waiting this long and indeed the vast majority waited considerably less.”
In July, the trust revealed that in a “best case” scenario, it may take until October 2024 to reduce the list for those waiting in excess of a year back to zero.
In a “worst case” scenario, trust leaders say it could take until June 2025.
Its best-case peak would be nearly 9,000 people on the year-long waiting list in April next year, while the worst case would be in excess of 10,000, again.