Local hospitals slash longest waiting times ahead of national deadline

Patients at hospitals across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are seeing the longest waiting times for their operations and treatments cut, as efforts to shorten waiting lists across the NHS begin to pay-off.

New NHS performance figures show that no patients are waiting more than two years for treatment at King’s Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community Hospitals, as hardworking NHS staff across the city and county continue efforts to drive-down hospital waiting times.

The latest data also shows that Sherwood Forest Hospitals, which runs the three sites, has overseen 3,568 elective procedures as it worked to reduce its waiting list during May 2022. A further 138 patients also began treatments for cancer at the Trust during the same period.

In the same month, Nottingham University Hospitals – which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre, City Hospital and Ropewalk House – oversaw 15,720 elective procedures, with a further 488 patients beginning treatments for cancer.

Those efforts have helped Sherwood Forest Hospitals to successfully reduce its two-year waiting lists from 16 patients in February 2022 to zero by the end of June, ahead of a national deadline to eliminate all two-year waits by July 2022.

At Nottingham University Hospitals, staff have also worked hard to achieve a significant reduction in the number of patients waiting more than two years for treatment from a peak of 394 patients in February to 87 today, with 43 of those patients choosing to wait longer.

Hardworking Trust staff have worked closely with patients who waited the longest to fully understand their needs and prioritise those in most urgent need. Regular check-ups were also conducted with patients to ensure their condition did not deteriorate.

Maggie McManus, interim Chief Operating Officer at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: "There is no doubt that the pandemic has had – and continues to have – a severe impact on NHS services, with demand remaining high for those services across the country.

"Behind each and every one of those statistics is a person who is waiting to receive treatment and I would like to thank those patients for their understanding while our hardworking NHS colleagues continue their work to reduce waiting lists."

Lisa Kelly, Chief Operating Officer at Nottingham University Hospitals, adds: "I would also like to thank our patients for their understanding and pay tribute to our hardworking colleagues whose skill and dedication is continuing to guarantee that patients can access the treatment they need in as timely way as possible."

In addition to the thousands of patients who undergo planned treatments across the two Trusts’ six hospitals each month, the Trusts also treated 25,982 patients in the emergency departments at the Queen’s Medical Centre and King’s Mill Hospital. A further 2,615 people attended the Urgent Treatment Centre at Newark Hospital during the same month.

Lisa Kelly continued: "Our NHS is there for you when you need it most – but we need to ask people to consider whether our hospital emergency departments really are the best place for them when it’s anything other than a genuine emergency."

Maggie McManus added: "If you need urgent medical attention, please visit NHS111 online or call NHS111 before visiting one of our hospitals. Alternatively, please speak to your local pharmacy or check www.nhs.uk for advice."