NHS staff in the North West have been praised and have seen their exceptional efforts being rewarded with reduced numbers of patients waiting more than a year and a half for treatment during the busiest winter ever for the health service.

The total number waiting more than 18 months in the region has fallen by 29.3% from 15,092 on 15 January to 10,669 as of 12 February.

Eight trusts in the region have fewer than 100 patients waiting more than a year and a half, ahead of the ambition to virtually eliminate these waits by April.

The NHS has experienced record pressures this winter with the fears of a ‘twindemic’ becoming a reality– resurgent flu combined with ongoing Covid – and the highest ever levels of demand for A&E and most urgent ambulance call outs, as well as the additional challenges brought about by industrial action.  

Bed occupancy remained incredibly high since November with increased operational demand for beds and the additional challenge associated with those patients in hospital who are medically fit and awaiting discharge home or to an alternative care setting.

In January, 16.8% of general and acute hospital beds across the North West – around 2,300 beds – were occupied by patients who were medically fit for discharge.

Some of the largest trusts have a greater total number of long waiters but are making significant progress in reducing their backlogs at speed.

Staff at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust brought down their longest waiters by more than a quarter (28%) in the last four weeks, from 5,287 to 3,802. Staff there have boosted theatre utilisation, increased capacity, and benefited from support from other NHS trusts through mutual aid.

Other initiatives across the North West to reduce waiting times have included:

• £10.6 million new, state of the art surgical theatres to reduce the elective surgery backlog at Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, which benefited more than 400 patients in the first three months of operating. Two further theatres at the new surgical centre are due to open later this year
• The Lancashire and South Cumbria Cardiac Network in collaboration with the Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) team, ran a system wide ‘echo-thon’, with the aim of delivering an additional 800 echocardiographs over eight weekends, which took 12 per cent of people off the waiting list in just two months
• Trusts in Lancashire and South Cumbria have been using a Chatbot automated call system to help review the current health status of patients who are waiting for treatment, enabling them to prioritise any patients whose conditions have deteriorated if needed, or remove patients who no longer need treatment from the waiting list.

Dr Michael Gregory, Medical Director for NHS England in the North West, said: “It’s encouraging to see the progress being made to bring down the longest waits for patients. I’d like to thank NHS staff in our region who are working so incredibly hard to help patients get the treatment they need.

“Of course, we know we have more to do and recognise that the weeks ahead may be challenging because of continued high demand for NHS services but we will keep working hard to build on this progress.”