Waiting times fall at Shropshire’s main hospitals
No children or young people are currently waiting more than a year for treatment
Fewer patients are now waiting for planned operations and appointments at Shropshire’s acute hospitals, as the local NHS trust reports a 20% drop in its elective care waiting list.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, says it's made significant progress in cutting delays for routine care.
No children or young people are currently waiting more than a year for treatment, and no patients are waiting longer than 65 weeks.
The number of people waiting over 52 weeks has fallen by more than 75%.
The improvement follows a series of changes introduced by the Trust, including a new operating theatre schedule and a boost in outpatient clinics.
A newly opened Planned Care Hub at Princess Royal Hospital has already treated over 5,500 patients, while the use of new digital tools like the Dr Doctor portal is helping to better manage appointments.
In June alone, 1,606 planned procedures were carried out, the highest monthly total since October 2017.
"hard work and innovation"
Andrena Weston, Acting Divisional Director of Operations for Surgery, Anaesthetics, Cancer and Critical Care, said: “Thanks to the hard work and innovation of our fantastic teams we have been able to increase the number of operations in our theatres and outpatient appointments.
“This has included scheduling patients further in advance, increasing theatre capacity for some specialities including paediatrics, and carrying out our first high volume theatre list at Princess Royal, which saw 11 hernia cases take place in one day.
“It has been a whole team effort including theatres, anaesthetics and booking and scheduling colleagues.”
"better recovery and improved health outcomes"
Mr Joe McCloud, Consultant Surgeon and Divisional Medical Director for Surgery, Anaesthetics, Cancer and Critical Care, said: “This is positive news for our patients as we know that earlier access to routine treatment can lead to a better recovery and improved health outcomes, enabling them to get back to their daily lives as quickly as possible.”
Ned Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer, said: “We remain humble, and know we have much more to do to ensure all our patients are receiving timely elective care, however we are moving in the right direction and towards our ambition of delivering excellent care for everyone.
“We are incredibly proud of our teams who have contributed to improving access to planned care, and we want to thank them for their hard work which is reducing waiting times and improving the experience for our patients.”