BRITS face waiting years for non-urgent NHS operations after bosses admitted they had given up trying to hit targets.
Hospital chiefs claim a shortage of staff and money makes it impossible to meet goals for A&E, cancer care and routine surgery at the same time.
They say they have been forced to prioritise A&E and cancer services in a bid to save lives and their own jobs.
At least one trust is considering stopping non-urgent – or “elective” – procedures all together to makes ends meet.
But it means more patients will have to wait longer than the 18 week target for the likes of hip and knee replacements.
Many will be in crippling pain and unable to lead normal lives while they wait to be seen.
The number of people on NHS waiting lists has rocketed by 300,000 in the past year to more than 4.1million. And this is likely to climb further as more trusts follow suit.
One NHS chief executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “I’ve tried over the years to balance all three but I just can’t do that anymore. I’m having to make really, really difficult decisions.
“We are now looking at our elective programme saying, effectively, ‘We will stop our elective programme.’ “We will never deliver 18 weeks ever again.”
The chief exec said NHS England was pushing him to bring waiting lists down by paying private firms to perform the ops.
But he added: “I’m not going to bankrupt the organisation or clinical commissioning group by driving this 18 week target unless there is a clinical need to do so.
“I’ve never seen a chief exec lose their job for 18 weeks but I’ve seen them lose their job for A&E or for cancer.” Another chief exec said: “We can’t afford to meet all the targets.” Chris Hopson, from NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, called on ministers to consider dropping or changing the target in the forthcoming NHS plan.
He said: “Many hospital trusts are telling us that at the moment they’re finding it very difficult to deliver all of the national performance targets – in A&E, cancer and elective surgery for example. Trusts rightly prioritise according to clinical need and in practice, given the range of pressures facing the service, this can currently mean slipping elective surgery performance despite the potential adverse consequences for patients.
“The forthcoming NHS long term plan must be ruthlessly honest about what can be achieved for the available money and what the priorities should be, including whether and how quickly we want to recover performance against the 18 week elective surgery target.” Hospitals are supposed to treat 92% of non-urgent patients within 18 weeks but this has not been achieved nationally since February 2016.
The Royal College of Surgeons said: “We must avoid returning to the days when hundreds of thousands of patients waited more than a year for surgery.” NHS England boss Simon Stevens previously suggested he would be in favour of reviewing the non-urgent waiting time targets.
He said the 92% goal “has strengths” but is “not the only way” of measuring performance.
Patients may soon have to phone ahead and book an appointment at A&E if they want to guarantee being seen within four hours.
The most urgent cases could still walk in and be seen immediately but others would face an unlimited wait if they had not reserved a slot.
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NHS bosses are thought to be considering the “blended” model as part of a review of A&E waiting time targets.
An NHS source said: “If you just turn up with your sore finger, headache or sprained ankle and are seen within four hours then that’s great but you are taking your pot luck.”
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https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/nhs-patients-face-waiting-years-for-surgery-as-bosses-admit-to-giving-up-on-hitting-targets/
News Pictures NHS patients face waiting YEARS for surgery as bosses admit to giving up on hitting targets
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