NHS Waiting times for routine operations up 6% in 2011

The Patients Association is calling for the Government to take action to cut NHS waiting times after research by the body revealed a 6% increase in waiting times last year.

A Freedom of Information request from the Patients Association to NHS Acute Trusts in England revealed tht waiting times for routine procedures such as knee replacements increased by 6% between 2010 and 2011, while the number of operations taking place fell.

Across the 93 trusts that responded with sufficient data, there were 18,628 fewer opertions performed in 2011 compared to 2010, a decline of 4.6%.  The biggest fall was in cataract procedures, which saw a 7.5% decrease.

Meanwhile, the largest increase in waiting times was for knee replacements, which saw an increase of 10.3 days on average, from 88.9 days to 99.2.

The Patients Association says the rise in waits for hip, knee, hernia, gallstone and hysterectomy operations was significant, with waits for knee, hernia and gallstone operations all seeing increases of 10%.

Source:  Health Insurance Magazine

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