04.08.14
Hunt aims to eliminate 12-month NHS waiting lists
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to get the number of people waiting more than a year for NHS treatment “as close to zero as possible”.
The minister stated that he wants to see more than 100,000 procedures carried out during the summer on those who have waited longer than 18 weeks (the official target), which will be funded through a £250m cash injection.
In a speech today, Hunt highlighted a dramatic cut in the number of people waiting 12 months or more for treatment – the figure has fallen from 18,458 when the coalition government came to power in 2010, to 574 now.
He stated: “A year is a very long time to wait if you are immobile, in discomfort or in pain. If a single one of those patients is waiting not out of choice, or for proper clinical reasons, but simply because the NHS has not been able to provide the treatment they need for a whole year then that is unacceptable.
“I want the NHS to put particular focus on anyone who has been waiting more than 18 weeks since being referred for treatment, so have asked NHS England to commission 100,000 additional treatments over the summer including 40,000 additional inpatient admissions.
“So from today NHS England will review all 500 cases, and working with CCGs and local hospitals, ensure that any patients who can be treated will be treated as rapidly as possible.”
The department has suggested that this focus on ‘long waiters’ may mean that the 18-week target is ‘undershot’ for a temporary period, although it is expected to return to meeting it before the end of the year.
The health secretary added that the NHS needs to ensure both that 90% of people get their treatment within 18 weeks and that people who are not treated within that period are not neglected. “So I have set a timeframe of this calendar year to deliver on both of those objectives,” he said.
But Dr Mark Porter, of the British Medical Association, argued it is right to prioritise patients who have had to wait the longest for treatment, but the secretary of state’s announcement tries to “wash over the fact that more patients will have to wait longer for an operation because the government, in effect, is having to ration care”.
He added that this is yet more evidence that the “NHS is buckling under extreme pressure” and that “patient care is being compromised”.
In response to the announcement Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, stated that the NHS has made huge progress over the past decade in slashing long waits, so the median wait for patients having an operation is now under 10 weeks.
“To lock-in that achievement – and go further in eliminating the longest waits – CCGs are now using earmarked extra funding to commission more elective surgery,” said Stevens. “As a result they expect their local hospitals to use the summer and early autumn to ensure they can then meet the performance standards which NHS patients are entitled to.”
(Image c. Neil Hall)
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