Call to review routine surgery waiting times

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons and the new leader of UK surgeons, has asked for the waiting target for routine operations in England to be reviewed, and says surgery should be made available sooner for patients with urgent conditions.

The call has been backed by the Patients Association, but health officials say that fewer patients face very long waits and the current 18 week target (the period of time between a GP referral and the start of treatment) will not be changed.

However, Ms Marx says that there are people who are having to wait too long for surgery – those needing a gallbladder operation for example.  Delaying surgery and thereby allowing a condition to deteriorate and become more serious, can ultimately cost the health service money.

“I would like to think it would be sustainable – people don’t like to wait.  But we need to think is 18 weeks too long for some, and possibly could other people wait longer than 18 weeks?

“We actually think that having a target has been useful.  However, just simply using it as a blunt instrument is not the way forward.

“The service as a whole could deliver care in a much better way throughout the whole week.

“That would enable us to actually ensure that we have more capacity for waiting time.”

The call for this debate has come at a time when the health service is facing increasing financial pressures.

Ms Marx said that doctors need to be come more aware of the costs and consequences of their decisions.

“One of the really good things is we’ve worked in a system that didn’t ask us to think about money and that was probably a mistake.  I don’t think we have been good enough – we need to be educated in what things cost.”

Chief executive of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, has said that the current waiting time is unacceptable for a number of patients, and that the time was right to start the debate.

“Whilst we do believe a gold standard waiting time needs to be established, it is unfair and unjust for it to be applied to all patients.  Clinicians must have the authority to treat patients quicker if their condition requires it.”

The number of people on the waiting list now numbers almost three million in England, so pressure on the waiting times is increasing and the Department of Health recently announced a further £250m to reduce backlogs.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (anthonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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