Nearly 35,000 patients overdue follow-ups at single trust

Nearly 35,000 patients are overdue a follow-up appointment at North Lincolnshire and Goole Foundation Trust, HSJ has learned.

Almost 20% of the 34,938 follow-up appointments are in ophthalmology. A paper from the trust’s November board meeting said the “backlog of follow-up appointments… clearly remains a risk”.

The report also said the service was failing some of the quality guidelines set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The trust told HSJ it had introduced a clinical harm review process last year to address the backlog. It has reviewed “more than 5,000 patients”, out of the 34,938 cases to date, according to Chief Operating Officer Shaun Stacey.

He said the trust had initially identified 83 patients who could have come to “potential harm”.

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Source: HSJ, 28 January 2020