Record numbers waiting for routine NHS treatment in Mansfield and Ashfield

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been blamed, and hospital chiefs have apologised for the delays.

The data, provided by NHS England, covers Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs King’s Mill Hospital at Sutton, Mansfield Community Hospital and Newark Hospital, as well as services from Ashfield Health Village at Kirkby.

It shows that 37,433 patients were on the waiting list for elective operations or treatment at the end of June, which was 37,358 more than at the end of May.

Elective surgery or procedures are those scheduled in advance because they do not involve a medical emergency.

The figure was also 31 per cent higher than the same month in 2020, and the highest for June since comparable records began in 2011.

Across England as a whole, the number of people on waiting lists was a staggering 5.45 million.

However, in signs of progress, the statistics also show that the Sherwood Forest trust is getting through its backlog of patients waiting for non-urgent, consultant-led, elective care.

NHS rules state that these patients should start treatment within 18 weeks. At Sherwood Forest, 11,367 patients earmarked for routine treatment at the end of June had been waiting this long, which equated to 31 per cent of everyone on the list. But this was down from 12,626 (34 per cent) at the end of the previous month.

Nevertheless, there were also 1,142 patients on the Sherwood Forest list who had been waiting at least a year for treatment.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust’s chief operating officer, Simon Barton, said: “Like all parts of the NHS, we have faced huge pressures in the last 18 months from the impact of Covid-19.

"Throughout the pandemic we have continued to use all available capacity to see and treat patients in clinical priority order. Over the last three months, with the support of national funding, we have delivered 9,000 extra appointments, tests and treatments for our patients.

“The number of patients waiting over one year has reduced by 30 per cent since March, but we recognise that some patients will be waiting longer than we would normally expect, and we are sorry for that.

"We recently wrote to patients on our waiting list to reassure them that we had not forgotten about them and if they were concerned about any changes in their condition to contact us.

“We know that the coming months still have some uncertainty with regards to the impact of Covid-19 and usual increases in demand over winter, but we are working with our teams to have plans in place to support the best possible care for our community.”

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned that waiting lists across the country will keep rising because of the “huge increase in demand”.

It is estimated that about seven million people who might have needed non-Covid-related care during the pandemic stayed away.

Mr Javid stressed that an extra £29 billion has been pumped into the NHS and social care budget this year.

But the Health Foundation charity warns that significantly more investment is needed to improve waiting lists and address staff shortages.

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