In England, NHS patients who have waited more than two years for surgery are being offered hospital care in other regions of the country.
More than 6,000 patients on long-term waiting lists are offered travel and accommodation costs, where applicable, to assist the NHS with its backlog.
By the end of July, health officials want to ensure that no one has waited longer than two years.
More than 400 patients have already indicated their willingness to travel.
NHS England stated that three patients awaiting surgery in Derby have already received care in the Northumbria health region, with another two patients scheduled.
In addition, 17 orthopedic patients from the South West of England are being treated in southwest London, with an additional 11 patients expected in the coming weeks.
Since January, Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid stated that the number of two-year waits had decreased by two-thirds.
With record investment, “innovations like this are helping to reduce waiting lists and accelerate access to treatment,” he said.
Mr. Javid also cited the fact that over 90 community diagnostic centers performed over one million examinations and scans in the past year.
With weekend clinics and dedicated surgery hubs, NHS staff are making “great progress” in reducing Covid backlogs, according to him.
However, the leader of the British Medical Association, Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, warns that a lack of staff and beds will undermine efforts to address what he calls a “backlog of unfathomable proportions” that has occurred once in a generation.
He noted that there were already 100,000 vacancies in the English National Health Service and that the situation was likely to worsen because doctors were “utterly exhausted” and their morale was “rock bottom.”
The health service is “at grave risk of hemorrhaging more doctors,” he will say at the BMA’s annual conference in Brighton, as many doctors are considering early retirement or are likely to work fewer hours.
In addition, he will assert that there is a “potentially hidden backlog of tens of millions of people waiting for medical, mental health, and chronic disease care who do not appear in government statistics.”
Hospitals collaborating
In England, 22,500 people were waiting more than two years for surgery in January, but that number has decreased by 15,000.
However, the most recent monthly NHS statistics reveal that May was the busiest month for emergency care, with 2,2 million A&E visits.
And nearly 6.5 million people in England are awaiting hospital treatment, a record number, with many awaiting knee and hip replacements, as well as eye surgery.
During the Covid pandemic, as hospitals treated thousands of patients infected with the virus, backlogs developed, forcing patients with other illnesses to wait significantly longer than usual for surgery or treatment.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive officer of NHS England, stated, “Millions of individuals who did not seek assistance earlier in the pandemic are now coming forward.”
She stated that despite the emergence of the Omicron strain and challenging winter, the NHS was on track to “eliminate two-year waits” by the end of July.
“One of the benefits of the NHS is that hospitals can work together to reduce Covid backlogs,” Ms. Pritchard said. “Therefore, if patients can and wish to be treated faster elsewhere in the country, NHS staff ensure that this is possible.”
Even if patients are willing to be treated in a different region of the country, this may not always be possible due to the specialized nature of their care.
