How can trusts find extra capacity to tackle the backlog in elective care?
The NHS is facing a massive backlog of patients who need treatment. As it emerges from the worst winter crisis many can recall, when many trusts struggled to maintain elective work at all, it has over 7 million people on the waiting list and average referral to treatment times are still increasing.
The NHS elective recovery plan has set a target of eliminating all waits of over a year by March 2025, requiring the NHS to both treat those patients currently waiting for care and those who are referred to it in the coming months. This will create a “hump” of patients who will all need to be treated within the next two years. “Business as usual” is unlikely to be enough to deliver the 30 per cent increase in capacity which NHS England believes is needed.
This HSJ webinar, in association with 18 Week Support asked:
• Are the current measures the NHS is taking sufficient to achieve the goal of reducing waiting times to 52 weeks by March 2025? If not, how can the NHS make greater use of its own assets such as theatres to deliver the extra capacity which is needed?
• How can trusts work with partners to deliver much-needed extra capacity? What are some of the issues which need to be worked through to ensure maximum extra capacity can be delivered?
• What are the practical steps which trust leaders can take now to treat more patients within their own hospitals?
