RCOG - Left for too long: Understanding the scale and impact of gynaecology waiting lists (6 April 2022)

Summary

This report by the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG) examines the real-life impact of long gynaecology waiting lists on women and on the wider health system. It highlights the problems that existed in accessing NHS gynaecology services before the Covid-19 pandemic, and reveals how the situation has become far worse due to the backlog of care:

• Gynaecology waiting lists across the UK have now reached a combined figure of over 570,000 women across the UK – just over a 60% increase on pre-pandemic levels
• Gynaecology waiting lists in England have grown the most in percentage terms of all elective specialties
• The number of women waiting over a year for care in England has increased from 66 before the pandemic to nearly 25,000

RCOG recognises that gynaecology has often been overlooked, and calls for the specialty to be given parity in recovery plans.

Content

The report covers the following topics:

• The state of the UK gynaecology waiting list
• The impact of gynaecology waiting lists
• The challenge ahead

It makes the following recommendations to ensure the effective and equitable recovery of elective gynaecology services:

1. Prioritisation of care as part of NHS recovery must look beyond clinical need to also consider the wider impacts on patients waiting for care.
2. There needs to be a shift in the way gynaecology is prioritised as a specialty across the health service. This must also include action to move away from using the term ‘benign’ to describe gynaecological conditions.
3. Elective recovery must address the unequal growth of gynaecology waiting lists compared to other specialties.
4. Elective recovery in gynaecology must focus on reducing the disparities between different regions and CCGs, ending the postcode lottery for gynaecology care.
5. Governments across all four nations must put in place fully-funded, long-term plans for the NHS workforce to ensure that staffing does not continue to be a barrier to reducing waiting lists.