650 patients reviewed for harm after dropping off waiting list
A trust is reviewing potential harm to 650 patients who were lost from its waiting lists, some of whom have waited more than 15 months.
Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust said the issue related to a national system which automatically removes referrals unable to be found an appointment slot within 180 days.
It discovered more than 2,300 such patients who were “not visible or tracked” after being removed from the “appointment slot issue” list.
The Essex trust has identified 650 whom it believed were still waiting for an appointment, and offered them new appointments. After this, it is reviewing whether those 650 came to any harm – a process it said it expected to complete by the end of this month.
Anna Jebb, chief operating officer at PAHT, said no harm had been identified to date.
PAHT said the discovery had resulted in people being added to its patient tracking list, some of which had waits of longer than 65 weeks (about a year and three months), and would likely hit its 18-week performance, which had improved in recent months.
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Source: HSJ, 16 October 2025