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Found 778 results
  1. News Article
    NHS England is in negotiations with ministers to formally push back the target to eliminate 65-week waiters, HSJ has learned. Discussions about the target are on-going as part of negotiations around the delayed 2024-25 planning guidance. It has been clear for months the March deadline to virtually eliminate 65-week waiters would be missed. It has emerged some trusts with the largest waiting lists already appear to be working to a September deadline. The news follows prime minister Rishi Sunak being forced to finally admit this week that his flagship NHS pledge from last January, that the waiting list would be falling by this year, had failed. This was something NHS bosses have warned of since summer. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 February 2024Choose Single File...
  2. News Article
    An investigation has been launched after a woman died days after being found unconscious underneath her coat while waiting in A&E for seven hours. The 39-year-old woman is understood to have first attended A&E at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham on the evening of 19 January complaining of a severe headache. She was triaged and then observed by nurses three times. Her case was escalated but she was not seen by a doctor before being discovered. When the woman was called to see a doctor, she did not respond. It was assumed that she had left A&E because she had waited so long. She was discovered and transferred to intensive care but died three days later on 22 January. A source familiar with the hospital told LBC, which first reported the incident, that the A&E department could have up to 80 patients waiting at a single time and that wait times could be as long as 14 hours. Dr Keith Girling, the medical director at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust, said: “I offer my sincere condolences to the family at this difficult time. An investigation, which will involve the family, will now take place and until this has been concluded, we are unable to comment further.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 February 2024
  3. News Article
    The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E hit a record in January of almost 180,000 people. Worsening pressures on A&E come as prime minister Rishi Sunak has officially missed his pledge, made in January last year, to cut the NHS waiting list. NHS England began publishing previously-hidden data on patients waiting 12 hours or more last year, after reports by The Independent. The latest figures for January show 178,000 people were waiting this long to be seen, treated or discharged after arriving from A&E – a record since February 2023 when the data was first published. In that month, 128,580 people waited more than 12 hours, and in December there were 156,000. The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to actual admission has also risen, from 148,282 in December to 158,721 last month – the second-highest figure on record. Dr Tim Cooksley, past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, warned: “Degrading corridor care and prolonged waits causing significant harm is tragically and increasingly the expected state in urgent and emergency care.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 8 February 2024
  4. News Article
    Cancer waiting times for 2023 in England were the worst on record, a BBC News analysis has revealed. Only 64.1% of patients started treatment within 62 days of cancer being suspected, meaning nearly 100,000 waited longer than they should for life-saving care. The waits have worsened every year for the past 11. Macmillan Cancer Support chief executive Gemma Peters called the figures "shocking". "This marks a new low and highlights the desperate situation for people living with cancer," she said. "Behind the figures are real lives being turned upside down, with thousands of people waiting far too long to find out if they have cancer and to begin their treatment, causing additional anxiety at what is already a very difficult time. "With over three million people in the UK living with cancer and an ageing population, this is only set to rise." The records go back to 2010, shortly after the cancer target was introduced. However, improvements have been made over the course of 2023 in how quickly patients are diagnosed with 72% told whether they have cancer or not within 28 days of an urgent referral. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 February 2024
  5. News Article
    Next week’s launch of the ‘Wayfinder’ waiting time information service on the NHS App will give patients “disingenuous” and “misleading” information about how long they can expect to wait for care, senior figures close to the project have warned. Briefing documents seen by HSJ show the figure displayed to patients will be a mean average of wait times taken from the Waiting List Minimum Data Set and the My Planned Care site. However, it was originally intended that the metric displayed would be the time waited by 92% of relevant patients. This is more commonly known as the “9 out of 10” measure. Mean waits are likely to be about “half the typical waiting time” measured under the 9 out of 10 metric, according to the waiting list experts consulted by HSJ. Ahead of The Wayfinder service’s launch on Tuesday, NHS trusts and integrated care boards have been sent comprehensive information on how to publicise it, including a “lines to take” briefing in case of media inquiries. This mentions the use of an “average” time but does not provider any justification for this approach. HSJ’s source said the mean average metric was “the worst one to choose” as it would be providing patients with “disingenuous” information that will leave them disappointed. They added that the 92nd percentile metric would be a “far more realistic” measure “for a greater number of people”. They concluded that “using an average” would create false expectations “because in reality nobody will be seen in the amount of time it is saying on the app.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 January 2024
  6. News Article
    Rishi Sunak has admitted the government has failed on a pledge to cut NHS waiting lists in England. The prime minister said the government had "not made enough progress" but that industrial action in the health service "has had an impact". Mr Sunak made the comments in an interview with TalkTV. Cutting NHS waiting lists is one of five priorities Mr Sunak set out in January 2023, along with measures on the economy and illegal immigration. At the time he said "NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly" but did not set a timeframe for achieving that. Asked if his government has failed to achieve that pledge, Mr Sunak said: "Yes, we have." The prime minister continued: "What I would say to people is that we've invested record amounts in the NHS - more doctors, more nurses, more scanners. "All these things mean the NHS is doing more than it ever has but industrial action has had an impact." Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 February 2024
  7. News Article
    Hospitals are being pressured to shift their resources to treating patients with less serious conditions to meet a “politically motivated” target, according to multiple senior sources. The pressure appears to be coming through NHS England’s regional teams, with local sources saying they are being told to focus energies on patients in their emergency departments who do not need to be admitted to a ward. These cases are typically faster to deal with, and therefore shifting resources to this cohort could significantly improve performance against the four-hour target. However, experts in emergency care repeatedly warn that admitted patients are the most likely to suffer long waits and harm. The NHS has been tasked with lifting performance against the four-hour target to 76% in 2023-24, but has failed to meet that in any month this year. Performance in December was 69%. Some trust leaders told HSJ they would ignore the instructions, saying they would continue to focus resources on reducing the longest waits. One chief executive in the north of England said: “It’s a complete nonsense and just politically motivated. We’re getting a very clear message to hit 76 per cent which is hugely problematic because it will drive non patient focussed behaviour. We have said ‘no, we are focussing on long waiters and ambulance delays’… in other words doing the right thing for patients.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 February 2024
  8. Content Article
    Set up in January 2023, the Times Health Commission was a year-long projected established to consider the future of health and social care in England in the light of the pandemic, the growing pressure on budgets, the A&E crisis, rising waiting lists, health inequalities, obesity and the ageing population. Its recommendations are intended to be pragmatic, practical, deliverable and able to be potentially taken up by any political party or government, present or future. 
  9. News Article
    Paramedics are "watching their patients die in the back of ambulances because they can't get them into A&E", according to the health union, Unison. It was commenting on data showing 2,750 hours were lost by ambulance crews waiting to hand over patients at Hull Royal Infirmary in October 2023. One crew was stuck outside A&E for 10 hours and 27 minutes. Hull University Teaching Hospitals said it was "confident" a new urgent treatment centre on the hospital site would "improve overall waiting times" and lost ambulance hours had "reduced notably" this month. The figures, obtained by the BBC through a freedom of information request, showed on 9 October 2023 ambulance crews lost 144 hours and 18 minutes, the equivalent to one crew being out of action for six full days and nights. Megan Ollerhead, Unison's ambulance lead in Yorkshire, said paramedics were "literally watching their patients die in the back of these ambulances because they can't get into A and E." "I talk to a lot of the people who receive the 999 calls in the control rooms and they're just listening to people begging for ambulances and they know there are none to send." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 January 2024
  10. News Article
    One in 20 patients has to wait at least four weeks to see a GP at a time when funding for family doctor services is falling, NHS figures show. In November 2023, 1.5m appointments in England at a GP surgery took place four weeks or more after they were booked, 4.8% of the 31.9m held that month. In one in six appointments, 5.4m (17.3%), the patient was forced to wait at least two weeks after booking it to see a GP, practice nurse or other health professional. “Millions of people are being left anxious or waiting in pain because they can’t get an appointment with their GP,” said Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, who highlighted the latest evidence underlining the long delays that many patients face to see a GP. “Staggering” numbers of patients now have to wait a long time, he said. GP leaders blamed the situation on the widespread shortage of family doctors, which they said was making it impossible to keep up with the rising demand for appointments. Burnout due to intense workloads is prompting more GPs to work part time. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 January 2024
  11. Content Article
    Meeting cancer performance targets is a challenge for many trusts with waiting times for diagnosis and treatment growing since the pandemic. But this is a worrying time for patients as well, and they would welcome quicker turnaround of results and diagnosis. Cutting time out of this pathway would benefit everyone but are there ways to do this which do not compromise patient safety? An HSJ webinar, in association with SS&C Blue Prism, addressed this important question and tried to find ways trusts could reduce waiting times.
  12. News Article
    A hospital trust has been breaching national guidance by excluding some long waiters from its reported waiting list figures, in a move experts warned could put patient safety at serious risk. The practice appears to have helped Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals report zero patients waiting more than two years for treatment during most of last year. Its policy means cases that unexpectedly “pop up” as two-year waits in its datasets are temporarily removed. The trust will then review whether the cases are data errors or genuine two-year waits, and if genuine, aim to provide treatment within a month. If not treated within a month, the cases would be added back to the reported waiting list the following month. Rob Findlay, an expert on RTT waiting lists, said the implications of the SWBH policy are far more serious than simply reporting incomplete numbers for a month. He said allowing a month to deal with the pop-up without declaring it “relieves them of pressure to solve the problems that are causing patients to be lost in the first place”. He added: “Some patients – the hospital would never know – might never pop up and be lost from the waiting list forever. “[This is] a serious patient safety issue which could potentially have a significant impact on how long patients are waiting for treatment.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 January 2024
  13. News Article
    A record 420,000 patients had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E last year, analysis has shown. The latest NHS England figures revealed a 20% increase on 2022 in people facing lengthy delays after a decision to admit them to hospital from the emergency department. In 2023, 419,560 people – or one in 15 A&E patients – faced “trolley waits” of 12 hours or more, according to the Liberal Democrats, who compiled the analysis. It marks by far the highest number since records began in 2011, and amounts to an average of 1,150 patients a day. Ed Davey, the party leader, criticised the “appalling delays” and accused Rishi Sunak’s government of “ignoring the suffering of patients and driving our health service into the ground”. Significant waits in A&E have been linked to excess deaths and increased harm to patients, as their condition could deteriorate before they are admitted or given a bed on a ward. Davey said: “Every year A&E delays are getting worse and worse under this Conservative government as hospitals are starved of the resources and staff they need. These appalling delays are leaving often vulnerable and elderly patients waiting for hours on end in overcrowded A&Es." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2024
  14. Content Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic led to unprecedented healthcare disruption across the UK. In England, the number of patient referrals waiting to be treated in hospital was more than 7·2 million at the end of October, 2022. In response, the UK Government set up an elective recovery taskforce (ERT) in December, 2022, to help NHS England tackle this backlog. Ahmar Shah and colleagues estimated the extent of healthcare disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic to aid decision making regarding the necessary capacity increases that are required to address the ensuing backlog. The study, published in The Lancet, found NHS waiting list for elective treatment increased between 1 Jan 2012, and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting a gradual service decline. The waiting list then substantially increased during the pandemic, but this substantial increase is likely to represent a substantial underestimation of the backlog because of the anticipated large numbers of people who have still not come forward for care. Even if the ambitious target of 30% increase in capacity is achieved during the next 3 years, several years (beyond the end of 2025) will be needed for the backlog to clear. This study emphasises the need to improve health-care system resilience to ensure that the effects of any future emergencies on the provision of routine care are minimised.
  15. News Article
    The NHS must treat at least 10% more non-emergency hospital cases a month if it wants to reduce the hefty backlog caused by the pandemic, according to new analysis. From February 2020 to October 2022, the waiting list for non-urgent care in England grew by 2.6m cases – a projected 1.8m more than if the pandemic had not hit. NHS England’s recovery plan aims to increase capacity by 30% by 2025 compared with pre-pandemic levels, but figures published on Thursday showed that the waiting list in England stood at 7.6m, down just 1.3% from the previous month. Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde examined the number of referrals awaiting treatment between January 2012 and October 2022. They calculated that an estimated 10.2m fewer referrals were made to elective care from the beginning of the pandemic to 31 October 2022. They then modelled how many of these missing patients might return for care to estimate the potential impact on waiting lists. NHS trusts would have to treat more than 10% to reverse the increasing trend in waiting lists, the authors conclude. “Even if the ambitious target of 30% increase in capacity is achieved during the next three years, several years (beyond the end of 2025) will be needed for the backlog to clear.” The research comes as NHS England monthly data published on Thursday revealed the health service is going backwards on some key targets. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 January 2024
  16. Content Article
    The NHS remains under immense pressure. Each part of the system is experiencing demand beyond its capacity, which is continually increasing the problem. This is most vividly illustrated in urgent and emergency care settings. Each winter in the past decade has become slightly worse,2 and that trend, which has not been reversed, has resulted in a dire situation that may not yet have reached its nadir. A continuum of often predictable perfect storms has caused a struggling system to reach collapse, writes Tim Cooksley, immediate past president, Society for Acute Medicine in this BMJ opinion piece.
  17. News Article
    The Welsh Ambulance Service is struggling to cope as many A&E departments are full and some patients have reportedly been waiting to be offloaded from ambulances for as long as 15 hours. The service has issued a plea for the public to "use 999 responsibly" amid severe pressure. An employee of the service said: "Nearly every A&E department is at capacity. Patients have been on ambulances for the last 15 hours. The ambulance service is only responding to red [immediately life-threatening] calls." The service has received almost 13,000 calls to 999 since Boxing Day and there have been almost 36,000 calls to the NHS 111 Wales service. Lee Brooks, the ambulance service’s operations boss, said: “Pent-up demand from the Christmas and New Year period, coupled with the seasonal illnesses we see at this time of year, means there are lots of people across Wales trying to access health services currently. When hospitals are at full capacity, it means ambulances can’t admit their patients, and while they’re tied up at emergency departments, other patients in the community are waiting a long time for our help, especially if their condition isn’t life-threatening. “We’re working really hard as a system to deliver the best possible care to patients, but our ask of the public today – and in the coming days – is only to call 999 if they are seriously ill or injured, or where there is an immediate threat to someone’s life. That’s people who’ve stopped breathing, people with chest pain or breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, choking, severe allergic reactions, catastrophic bleeding or someone who is having a stroke." Read full story Source: Wales Online, 3 January 2024
  18. News Article
    Trusts reduced the number of 65-week breaches by around 20% and cut the overall elective waiting list between October and mid-December, NHS England has said. The claim is based on provisional data published by NHSE on 2 January, which came with a warning of possible “significant issues regarding the quality and completeness”. The figures suggest the number of 65-week waiters fell from around 114,000 on 8 October to around 93,000 by 17 December. The last official “referral to treatment” figures were published last month (see table below). They reported there were around 107,000 65-week breaches in October. Sources familiar with the provisional data, from the “waiting list minimum data set”, said while it was not as accurate as official referral to treatment statistics, it gives an accurate picture of the direction of travel and overall performance. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 January 2024
  19. Content Article
    In this episode, Ruth Robertson explores how the NHS elective care waiting list can be managed in a way that improves health equity with Dr Mark Ratnarajah, UK Managing Director at C2-Ai, Sharon Brennan, Director of Policy and External Affairs at National Voices and Dr Polly Mitchell, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Bioethics and Public Policy at King’s College London.
  20. Event
    until
    The health and care system continues to face profound challenges, whether it’s staff shortages, financial pressures, all-time low public satisfaction, or record high waiting times for elective care. At this free online event, our expert panel will provide insight and context into the wider health and care landscape, the challenges the sector is facing, and the big issues they want to see progress on in 2024. In the run-up to the anticipated general election, our panel will also explore how recent trends, political parties’ policy proposals and future developments could affect those working in the sector, as well as people, patients and communities. Join the discussion and share your comments and questions about the wider challenges and opportunities facing the health and care sector. Register
  21. News Article
    Stroke patients in England are waiting an average of almost seven hours for a specialist bed, double the wait reported before Covid. National performance against key measures collected by the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme has nosedived, with patients in England waiting an average of almost seven hours to be admitted to a specialist unit in 2022-23, compared to three and a half hours in 2019-20. NHS England guidance states that every patient with acute stroke should be given rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours. This time frame is considered critical, as patients can only be given clot-busting drugs, and treatments such as thrombectomy, which surgically removes a clot, within the first few hours of stroke onset. However, this was achieved in just 40% of cases last year (2022-23), down from 61% in 2018-19. Juliet Bouverie, CEO of the Stroke Association, urged ministers to give trusts what they needed to reverse the decline, saying: “Stroke is a medical emergency and every minute is critical. “We are very concerned to see that, far from improving over the last year, the proportion of stroke patients being admitted to a stroke ward within the timescale for thrombolysis has continued to decline. This is putting patient recoveries at risk and strain on the rest of the health system. “We believe that early supported discharge, when done correctly, with adequately resourced community teams, can help to alleviate capacity pressures in acute stroke units. However, this is not a silver bullet. There are longstanding workforce issues which are affecting patient flow in, through and out of stroke units and we call on DHSC to properly address these in the workforce plan.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 January 2024
  22. Content Article
    Elective recovery plans in part rely on the strengths of Surgical Hubs (SH) and Community Diagnostic Centres (CDC) to provide additional support. This report by the Medical Technology Group (MTG) considers how well these new tools are working for the NHS. It raises questions about how SHs and CDCs have been established and the decision making processes within these services.
  23. Content Article
    Record numbers of people are waiting for NHS treatments. The numbers have soared in recent years from 4.4 million before the pandemic to 7.8 million today. As winter approaches they look set to increase further still. With a pandemic and industrial action its been a very challenging time for the NHS. Monthly treatments are growing at a faster rate than pre-pandemic levels. But the waiting list is still rising as people come forward having postponed seeking treatment. On this episode of Call You and Yours, the host asks- "how are NHS waiting lists are affecting you and your family?"
  24. News Article
    The average wait for an autism diagnosis in England has hit 300 days, according to new NHS data. That is up 53% from 12 months prior and exceeds the NICE target of 91 days. The National Autistic Society described such wait times as appalling, warning "autistic people shouldn't miss out on vital support because they haven't got a timely assessment." A government spokesperson said it had made £4.2m available this year to improve services for autistic children. Rose Matthews, 63, from County Durham, said receiving an autism diagnosis had been "lifesaving - and I don't say that flippantly". Before receiving their diagnosis at the age of 59, Rose, who uses "they" and "them" as personal pronouns, said: "My life was unravelling. "My career was unravelling." They said their GP had "deeply misguided ideas about what being autistic meant" and brushed them aside. Joey Nettleton-Burrows, policy and public affairs manager for the National Autistic Society (NAS), said: "We do see lot of misunderstanding from people, and it can include health and social care staff, but I wouldn't say it is common with GPs." Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 December 2023
  25. News Article
    Private hospitals saw record admissions this year after hundreds of thousands of people sought care through their insurance amid rocketing NHS waiting lists, new figures show. Between January and June 443,000 private treatments took place – a 7% rise from 2022, the vast majority of which were claimed through medical insurance policies. According to the Private Hospital Information Network (PHIN), which collects data from hospitals in the sector, there was a 12% increase in the number of people paying for care via insurance with 157,000 people using this route from January to March and 148,000 from April to June this year. The news comes as the NHS’s waiting list continues to grow with almost 7.8 million appointments recorded. Recently published data shows that there is a total of 6.5 million individual people on the waiting list. Read full story Source: The Independent, 7 December 2023
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