NNUH failed to urgently see enough cancer patients over past 3 years
It's part of a wider national problem fuelled by the pandemic and staff shortages
Last updated 26th Oct 2022
The Norfolk and Norwich hospital failed to urgently see enough patients for suspected cancer- in all but ONE of the past 37 months.
It's part of a wider national problem, with the number of hospitals failing to hit the national target of seeing people in two weeks after their referral, at a three year high.
"We need more staff coming into Norfolk"
Alex Stewart is chief executive of the local patient group, Healthwatch Norfolk.
He told us what's causing this and how the NNUH are trying to tackle the issue:
"What they are trying to do is increase clinics. They are working 7 days a week, seeing people and having people scanned in different areas in order to get results processed more quickly. But ultimately, we need more staff coming into Norfolk, we have a number of shortages in a range of different areas".
"Some of these waits are partly being caused by Covid. There's this backlog that hospitals are catching up with and there's an increase in GP referrals to the hospitals, which again causes another backlog. If you add that to ambulance waits and trying to get people in and out- that again has an impact".
"They are sometimes feeling a little bit abandoned"
He says it's a real worry for those on the lists:
"They are sometimes feeling a little bit abandoned. That is definitely not the intention of the hospitals, they are having to deal with such a massive workload with the same or sometimes reduced staffing levels".
What's been the response to all this?
NNUH Deputy Chief Operating Officer Nancy Oliver said:
"We are sorry that some patients have had to wait longer than expected to see us following a cancer referral. Our teams continue to work extremely hard to manage cancer referrals and to reduce waiting times, including running additional clinics where possible including at weekends. We have reduced the number of patients waiting in excess of 14 days for their first attendance from a high point of 840 to 350 in September.
We continue to see year on year increases in suspected cancer referrals and are scaling up our services to meet ongoing demand. We have seen a 38% rise against 2019/2020 levels and a 17% increase against 21/22 levels."
"The NHS is investing billions"
NNUH Deputy Chief Operating Officer Nancy Oliver said:
"We are sorry that some patients have had to wait longer than expected to see us following a cancer referral. Our teams continue to work extremely hard to manage cancer referrals and to reduce waiting times, including running additional clinics where possible including at weekends.
We have reduced the number of patients waiting in excess of 14 days for their first attendance from a high point of 840 to 350 in September. We continue to see year on year increases in suspected cancer referrals and are scaling up our services to meet ongoing demand".
An NHS spokesperson said:
"In order to fully recover from the pandemic, GPs are now referring 20% more patients every day than before the pandemic, which is good news as it will mean more people will get checked and diagnosed earlier.
"The NHS is investing billions to expand diagnostic treatment capacity to meet this extra demand and has written to trusts with the longest backlogs asking them to urgently set out plans to reduce cancer waits - helping them redesign their care to keep up with increased demand."