East Lancashire hospital pain service crisis leads to halting of referrals (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire hospital pain service crisis leads to halting of referrals

11:30am Monday 9th January 2012 in Health By Neil Docking, Reporter

A HOSPITAL service has taken the unprecedented step of saying ‘no’ to any new patients in an attempt to solve a waiting list crisis.

GPS across East Lancashire have been told not to refer people who need pain control help to hospital because of an 18-week backlog.

Some patients are waiting more than four months to access East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust’s pain management services due to staffing shortages and an overload of cases.

The move has been branded “disgusting” and “unheard of” by patients rights groups and unions.

Thousands of patients use the services at Royal Blackburn and Burnley General Hospital, which provide pain relief using specialist techniques.

Blackburn with Darwen’s health watchdog, councillor Ron O’Keeffe, said the delay for people in severe pain was ‘not acceptable’.

The Children and Health Overview Scrutiny chairman said: “I think if they want to cut the waiting list down they should prioritise serious cases.

“Anybody who has got a serious problem with pain must be seen as soon as possible.

“When you’re in severe pain your mind goes as well.

“I slipped two discs in my back and for 12 months went through agony.

“If I’d have had to wait for treatment I would have been killing myself – that is a problem when somebody is in severe pain, they can even consider suicide.”

Former hospital trust chairman Ian Woolley said suspending all referrals was an ‘extremely severe’ measure.

He said: “A more acceptable approach I would have thought would be to allow GPs only to refer the very urgent cases which they feel cannot wait.

“GPs are the gatekeepers to the service, to tell them they can’t send somebody is stupid.”

The patients are mainly those who have undergone major surgery for problems like back and musculoskeletal pain and sports injuries and people with conditions like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The treatments, most of which GPs cannot give themselves, include epidural infusions (drug injections into the spine) patient controlled analgesia (painkiller) devices, peripheral nerve blocks and spinal analgesia.

In a letter seen by the Lancashire Telegraph, Anne Asher, the Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus associate director of commissioning, delivery and support, said that as of January 1 referrals could not be made for a period of up to eight weeks.

She said: “Demand on the ELHT pain management service is continuing to increase and there are consultant staffing issues which are resulting in severe capacity problems.

“Waiting times for patients have increased and in some cases are now exceeding 18 weeks.”

Hospital bosses promised that patients who had already been referred would be treated.

They said that GPs could refer patients to other providers during the interim period, several of which were available and aware that an increase in referrals was expected.

And they said that the move would be reconsidered at the end of January and February.

Russ McLean, chairman of the ELMS Patient Voice Group, which represents patients across East Lancashire, said the decision was ‘absolutely disgusting’ and that he would be taking it up with hospital chiefs.

He said: “I had a similar experience myself. I had to wait three months with severe back pain. I was finally got in to Beardwood Hospital when the private hospital took up slack from the NHS.

“My mother who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, a very painful condition, has had to wait some considerable time.

“When you’re in pain one day is long enough to wait, never mind three months or more.”

Tim Ellis, UNISON’s regional health officer for East Lancashire, said the decision was a ‘tragedy’.

He said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this.

“They are admitting there is a long queue and the only way to deal with it is not to have people join it.

“It just defers that period that people are waiting in pain.

“It’s a tragedy for patients, it’s a concern for the staff and it exemplifies the resource restrictions that are in the NHS.

“But as far as I understand it’s not the fault of the hospital, it’s a reduction in resources.”

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus and NHS East Lancashire issued a joint statement on the decision.

A spokesman said: “Our first priority is for patients to receive the highest quality care possible and we would like to stress that this affects new referrals only and that patients will always be offered an alternative service.

“The request from ELHT to suspend referrals was approved by NHS East Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus to ensure patients continue to receive a high level of service.

“The pause is to enable ELHT to implement service improvements and we are working together to ensure these are carried out whilst ensuring patients continue to receive prompt effective care.

“Any patients requiring pain management should contact their GP for referral to an alternative provider.”