Medical test delays hit record high as coronavirus impact felt in Black Country and Staffordshire
Tens of thousands of patients are facing some of the worst ever delays in NHS test results as hospitals grapple with the Covid-19 crisis.
Record delays for a range of medical tests, including cancer, were recorded at hospital trusts across the Black Country, Staffordshire and Birmingham in May.
Medical experts have warned the growing waiting lists could spell trouble in the coming months, as lockdown eases and referrals rise – with stark challenges facing health services.
NHS trusts report on wait times for 15 key tests at the end of each month, which are used to diagnose a wide range of diseases and conditions including cancers, heart failure and hearing problems.
When someone is referred for one of the tests, they should have it completed within six weeks. But new data from NHS England shows more than 39,000 people in the region had been kept waiting longer at the end of May. A total of 2,188 – or 39.7 per cent – were kept waiting more than six weeks at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.
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At the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust the number was 6,053 or 65.2 per cent of those on the waiting list.
The Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust kept 8,293 patients waiting – 63.6 per cent of the waiting list.
At Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, 950 people were kept waiting, 37 per cent.
A total of 11,296 patients were kept waiting for more than six weeks at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust – 66 per cent.
Data showed that all 135 patients on the waiting list at the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides physical and mental health, learning disabilities and adult social care services in Staffordshire, at the end of May had been waiting longer than six weeks.
All of the hospital trusts recorded the worst performance for the month since comparable local records began in 2014.
The national standard is that fewer than one per cent of patients should wait six weeks or more.
Hospital chiefs pledge to restore services as backlog at record high
Hospital bosses say they have prioritised patients with the “most life-threatening conditions” during the pandemic – and urgent procedures have continued throughout.
New figures released this month from NHS England have shown that hospital trusts across the Black Country, Staffordshire and Birmingham have seen record delays for a range of medical tests.
Across England, hospitals saw a massive rise in the number of delays as Covid-19 hit services. More than 570,000 patients – 58.2 per cent – had been waiting six weeks or more at the end of May, the most for any month since the target was introduced in 2008 – a year previously, there were just 43,000.
Health bosses at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust have introduced an initiative where some outpatients across Birmingham are being treated at the NEC instead of at their usual hospitals – and bosses say it will help them work through a backlog of cancelled appointments during the peak of the coronavirus crisis.
The outpatients clinics at the NEC started at the end of June and will run until the end of July.
Elsewhere, hospital trusts in the region say they are working on increasing as many services as they can over the coming months.
Postponed
A spokesman for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said: “Throughout the pandemic we have aimed to prioritise patients with the most life-threatening conditions and urgent procedures have continued.
“One of these measures included a number of staff who were deployed to ICU and other Covid-19 wards to cope with the increased demand on our services. This meant some routine appointments, tests and operations were postponed until it is safe to resume those services.
“The trust is working on a recovery plan to restore more services in the coming months. We are currently working through the waiting list and contacting patients for their rescheduled appointments, according to their priority.”
Diane Wake, chief executive at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The NHS has been at the forefront of the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic caring for very poorly patients who tested positive for Covid-19. Regulatory rules around patient waiting times for routine work were suspended to enable the NHS to deal safely with all urgent and emergency patients. In line with national guidance, we cancelled all non-urgent procedures and planned operations, including routine diagnostic testing.
"We understand for many this has meant that they have not been able to access services in the same way as usual, and we thank them for their understanding during this difficult period.
"We are starting to work through the backlog of patients waiting, and recent performance for May and June is encouraging and starting to demonstrate a slow recovery against the national standard.
"Now that we are starting to recover services, we advise patients that the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust is still here to support patients, and it is important that people attend their appointment when asked to do so."
Transmission
Dr Matthew Lewis, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s medical director, said: “The trust does have an ongoing focus and commitment to improving access to diagnostic tests for all our patients.
"Although waiting times have deteriorated, we are proud that the proportion of patients waiting over six weeks at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is the seventh best in the country (out of 123 reporting Acute Trusts). This is an indication of the hard work of our staff throughout this most challenging period."
Paul Bytheway, chief operating officer at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, said: “We have continued to provide urgent care and cancer services and have asked patients to attend hospital only when it is really necessary.
“We have now started to gradually bring back some services, including diagnostic tests, but only where that can be done safely and limits the transmission of coronavirus.”
A Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “An impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on NHS services has been the temporary suspension of bone density scanning, also known as DXA scanning. This decision was taken in line with national guidance relating to radiology services that sought to prioritise urgent services during the pandemic.
“DXA scanning recommenced on July 4 and we are now providing this service during weekends in July with a view to increasing this further in August in order to work through the backlog as quickly as possible.
“The wider rheumatology service has continued to provide telephone support throughout and we apologise to patients for the delay they have experienced for DXA scans as a result of this unprecedented pandemic.”
A University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "The outpatient clinics at the Birmingham and Solihull Health Campus, on the south side of the NEC site, have allowed us to see more than 1,311 patients since June 29 in a range of specialties –which deliver three of the 15 tests referred to in the NHS England data. These are patients who we would otherwise not have been able to see immediately on our hospital sites due to restricted clinics to accommodate social distancing and reduce footfall. We will continue to review the success of the facility in conjunction with CCG colleagues.
"Our clinicians have continued to deliver a significant number of outpatient appointments throughout and despite the Covid-19 pandemic, in many cases by telephone or video for patients who do not require in-person consultations. However, the numbers have been impacted by both the need to redeploy staff to care for the sickest patients and the need to re-purpose our sites to ensure patient and staff safety."
