Wait list (probably) flatlines as community services disappear from data (HSJ, 12 April 2024)

Summary

About 40,000 patient pathways have disappeared. But on the plus side, a new and better data series has begun.

The referral-to-treatment (RTT) waiting list data has now changed in two important ways.

First, about 40,000 patient pathways in community services are now excluded from the RTT data collections, and this accounted for all of the apparent reduction in list size in the latest (February) official RTT data.

Second, NHS England has started regular publication of the more detailed and timely (though – for now – less complete and accurate) Waiting List Minimum Data set.

This HSJ article looks at those changes in more detail.