Patients caught up in waiting lists fight

2:35pm Monday 1st October 2007

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PATIENTS could be denied access to vital clinics - as hospital chiefs battle to meet tough new waiting list targets.

Hospital leaders have been told that they must meet 18-week GP referral-to-treatment goals by the end of next year.

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But the sheer volume of patients arriving at the Royal Blackburn, Burnley General, Accrington Victoria and Pendle hospitals - has made the task tough for NHS bosses.

Now East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is adopting new measures to meet the 18-week target - including restricting referrals from GPs once they reach a certain level.

The move has been criticised by Coun Roy Davies, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen's health scrutiny committee.

He said: "This is outrageous. We have schemes which are supposed to be helping us to meet waiting list targets, but they have been delayed."

The hospital must see 85 per cent of patients within 18 weeks by March 2008 - then reach the 100 per cent target by December.

Doctors have been encouraged to use the new NHS Choose and Book system to offer patients more choice about where they are treated.

Because of a poor take-up for the scheme, especially among medics in Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, financial inducements were offered.

But it appears that patients still want to go to their nearest local hospital, instead of going private or opting for a clinic further afield.

Two NHS initiatives designed to tackle waiting list pressures, clinical assessment and treatment centres (CATs) operated by South African firm Netcare and another £500million contract for Swedish-based Capio, are yet to get off the ground.

Steph Long, the hospital trust's 18 weeks lead officer, said good progress was being made in achieving the target.

But she added: "However, in services where we are facing real difficulties meeting this target because we simply have too many patients to treat, we have to consider ways to control the number of patients getting onto our waiting lists."

Another measure would see patients from outside East Lancashire prevented from selecting local hospital services.

She added: "Similarly we work to contracted levels of activity agreed with our primary care trusts which are set at levels which allow us to move towards delivery of the 18 week target."