Unacceptable Delays In Surgery And Treatment

Unacceptable Delays In Surgery And Treatment

On Thursday 10th August 2017 the BBC reported that those awaiting routine surgery on the NHS was at its highest level for a decade. This was based on figures published by NHS England.

Currently there are more than 4 million people estimated to be waiting for operations. This is thought to be both due to growing demand on the NHS, for a number of reasons, and because the service is performing more procedures. Either way, this is an unacceptable number of people suffering from continued symptoms without hope of a quick and efficient alleviation.

This problem could also be compounded by a GP’s delay in referral for treatment or further investigations.

NHS England has an expectation that at least 92% of patients will be seen and operated on within 18 weeks of referral but it is clear from the numbers recently published that the NHS is falling far short of these expected timescales, and in fact there is a small core of patients who are left waiting for more than a year for treatment.

The Royal College of Surgeons has said that growing waiting times were “unacceptably high” and would leave patients at risk of death and disability.

A delay in diagnosis and treatment of any condition can cause permanent irrevocable damage. In some situations, time truly is of the essence as we are all too aware in many of our oncology and spinal damage cases.

If you or someone you know has any concerns about how your health has been managed or if you believe there has been a delay in diagnosing or treating your medical condition then Wolferstans’ Clinical Negligence specialists can sensitively discuss and deal with this for you.

If you would like to have a free initial discussion without any obligation then please contact Jodie O’Connor on 01752 292360 or email her at joconnor@wolferstans.com.

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