Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust: all the key numbers for the NHS Trust in November

A health think tank warned January strikes would further add to the pressure faced by the NHS during the winter period.

NHS England figures show 52,714 patients were waiting for non-urgent elective operations or treatment at Sherwood forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at the end of November – down from 53,703 in October, but an increase on 47,006 in November 2022.

Of those, 1,858 (4%) had been waiting for longer than a year.

The median waiting time from referral at an NHS Trust to treatment at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust was 13 weeks at the end of November – the same as in October.

At Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, 10,562 patients were waiting for one of 12 standard tests, such as an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy at this time.

Of them, 3,726 (35%) had been waiting for at least six weeks.

Other figures show cancer patients at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust are not being seen quickly enough.

The NHS states 85 per cent of cancer patients with an urgent referral should start treatment within 62 days.

But NHS England data shows just 65 per cent of cancer patients urgently referred to Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust in November began treatment within two months of their referral.

That was up from both 53 per cent in October, and 63 per cent in November 2022.

Charlotte Ainger, associate director of Operations and Planned Care said: “We know the impact that waiting for hospital appointments can have on patients and their families, and we are working hard to reduce the length of time people are waiting for diagnostic tests and treatment.

“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the length of time people wait for tests and an example of this is our new Community Diagnostic Centre, which since October 2023 has been offering around 850 additional health checks to local residents each week.

“The new facility enables us to treat more patients each month and bring down our overall waiting times across the Trust.

“I would like to thank patients for their understanding while we continue to work hard to reduce waiting lists.”