Virus crisis sends South Tyneside hospital waiting times soaring

The coronavirus crisis has sent routine treatment waiting lists rocketing at hospitals in South Tyneside and Sunderland, new figures show.
South Tyneside District HospitalSouth Tyneside District Hospital
South Tyneside District Hospital

NHS statistics show 239 patients had been on the waiting list for over a year for elective treatment at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust at the end of August – the highest figure since comparable records began in 2011.

Of the 26,862 patients on the list for treatment at the Trust at the end of August, 31% had been waiting for more than the 18-week target for non-urgent elective care

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NHS trusts are expected to ensure no more than eight per cent of patients wait longer.

Dr Shaz WahidDr Shaz Wahid
Dr Shaz Wahid

Last August, the Trust – which runs South Tyneside District Hospital – had no patients waiting for 12 months.

Dr Shaz Wahid. medical director at the Trust, said: “The impact of Coronavirus on the delivery of our routine planned services has been significant and, like all Trusts across the country, we took steps at the start of the pandemic, to postpone all non-urgent planned operations to make sure we had capacity to manage the influx of emergency admissions of people with COVID-19.

"The last few months have presented us with significant challenges that we have never before had to face and we are extremely grateful for the support and patience of the public at this very difficult time.

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“Over the past few months our teams have worked tirelessly to restore as many routine services as possible, prioritising those who have waited the longest."

He added: "In August, 69.5% of all patients were waiting less than 18 weeks for their treatment, with half of those waiting less than six weeks.

"We continue to work hard to recall people for their planned operations and procedures but we must also remain in a state of readiness to respond to COVID-19 for the foreseeable future given then rise in cases.

“COVID-19 has not disappeared and I would urge everyone to remain vigilant to the virus. We can all play a part in reducing the spread through simple measures like regular hand washing, wearing a face mask and by social distancing.”

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Nationally, 46% of the 4.2 million people waiting at the end of the month had overshot the 18-week target time, although this an improvement on 53% in July.

In England, the number of people waiting a year or more hit 111,000, a near tenfold increase from the 1,236 in August 2019 and the highest figure since 2008.

The King's Fund think tank says the NHS has a “mountain to climb” to tackle delays caused by Covid-19.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at independent organisation, said: “NHS staff are working hard to restore services and find innovative new ways to care for patients, but as these figures show, there is a mountain to climb before waits for routine NHS care return to pre-pandemic levels.”

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An NHS spokesman said: “Hospitals are carrying out more than a million routine appointments and operations per week, with around three times the levels of elective patients admitted to hospital than in April, as they continue to make progress on getting services back to pre-Covid levels."