East Lancashire hospitals to delay operations

It comes as hospitals in England were told to delay pre-planned operations and routine out-patient appointments until the end of the month due to severe winter pressures.

In a drastic step to try and free up hospital staff and beds, NHS England also said the deferral of non-urgent in-patient elective care, such as hip replacements, should be extended until January 31.

Officials have estimated this could lead to up to 55,000 deferred operations, although cancer operations and time-critical procedures should go ahead as planned, NHS England said.

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East Lancashire’s patients’ champion Russ McLean said he was ‘shocked and disappointed’ by the news.

He said: “I think this is an unprecedented decision by the Department of Health and NHS England.

“What concerns me is that they are blaming it on winter pressure, but we are under that pressure all the time.

“It goes back to what I and other patient groups are saying, Government isn’t putting enough money in.

“It costs one billion pounds every three days to run the NHS.

“We need more buildings and we need more staff to work in them.”

Tony McDonald, deputy director of operations at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT), said the trust had been preparing the service in the run-up to winter and have been managing to maintain ‘reasonable patient flow’ through their hospitals.

He said: “As with the majority of other hospitals nationwide, ELHT’s Emergency Care Department has been experiencing a surge in demand over the Christmas and New Year period.

“East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust has spent a number of weeks preparing our services in the run-up to winter. Working together with our partners across the whole health economy, we are managing to maintain reasonable patient flow through our hospitals.

“In line with NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance we are implementing an ‘elective pacing’ programme. This means we are prioritising clinically urgent cases which will go ahead, but some non-urgent surgery will be postponed.

“Patients will be notified if their procedure is affected and we therefore ask them to attend their appointments unless advised otherwise.

“We recognise that there will be upset and inconvenience caused to patients and their families, and we really appreciate their patience and understanding during this difficult time.

“We also thank members of the public for their continued support and continue to request they only attend A&E if absolutely necessary. Patients should think about visiting their local pharmacy, GP or calling 111 before attending A&E or one of our Urgent Care Centres.”

Mr McLean warned the delays could last beyond January, and raised fears about Australian flu.

UK doctors have warned it could be the worst outbreak of the bug in 50 years, as official figures revealed cases more than doubled in just one week.

Deadly Aussie flu could be heading to England after death in Ireland

Mr McLean said: “We need to start looking long term, because there’s nothing to stop them extending the cancellations past January.

“Aussie flu has already killed people in Ireland and I fear that it will come here and we won’t be prepared.”

“If you are waiting for an operation I would ask you to please understand that the NHS is under pressure. East Lancashire Trust have opened a dedicated respiratory unit but it’s not enough.

“I would ask people to be patient and remember it is not the fault of your local hospital staff. The blame lies squarely with successive Government who have not funded the NHS.”