The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust faces "real challenges" in managing to treat all patients who've been waiting more than two years by July, the trust's chief executive has warned.
There are 251 people who have currently waited for more than two years for their treatment - and NHS Trusts around the country have been told by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England that this figure needs to be reduced to zero by July.
Explaining the work going on at the Trust's hospitals in the city, chief exec Dame Jackie Daniel said this was a "reasonable" ask and said departments across the organisation were working hard to treat the people who had been waiting the longest.
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Writing in her blog, Dame Jackie said: "Our first priority must be with those who have waited 104 weeks or more for their treatment. I didn’t think I would ever see such long waiting again in my NHS career and although the reasons for these delays are understandable, I know they make every one of us uncomfortable.
"I want to acknowledge the huge amounts of effort going into supporting these patients, and we have seen great progress from that hard work."
The hospital leader said, as has been the case since the impact of the pandemic began to be felt, "most" of the patients to have waited more than two years are waiting for "either complex ophthalmology care, spinal deformity surgery or neurosurgery".
Referring to the July target, Dame Jackie added: "While this seems reasonable, and is something that we all want to see, there are real challenges to achieving this milestone."
Speaking about the complex surgery undergone by Amelia Mills, 14 - who featured on TV's Geordie Hospita l as she had an operation to fix her scoliosis undertaken by top surgeons Andrew Bowey and John Andrews - Dame Jackie said: "This showed a four-hour operation which needed two very experienced surgeons and a large support team, and even with that level of expertise it is a highly risky procedure."
Some departments - such as dermatology have implemented new strategies like contacting all patients waiting for treatment via text to ensure they still require their appointment - while the hospital trust has invested in its facilities in order to tackle the wider backlogs of planned procedures.
According to NHS data, in December more than 90,000 people in total were waiting for treatment at the Newcastle trust - it had 93,343 people in total waiting, though more than 64,000 of those have been waiting less than the 18 weeks set out in national targets.
Dame Jackie added: "What I’m seeing across the whole trust is a new determination to tackle our waiting lists so that our patients are seen as soon as we possibly can.
"To do this we have invested significantly to support clinical services – in a new Day Treatment Centre at the Freeman, in our Westgate Cataract Centre, and in many other directorate level projects. We’re also working closely in partnership with private sector providers and prioritising quality improvement work to use theatres and outpatients most efficiently and effectively.
"This will all make a difference now and in the long term."
In February Health Secretary Sajid Javid launched the Government's elective recovery plan.
This would see elective care "transformed" to help reduce waits and includes pledges that no-one will be waiting more than a year by 2025, and no-one will be waiting more than two by this July.
The NHS has also launched a new website called "My Planned Care" to help patients track their care and potentially choose where to be treated.
In presenting the plan in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Sadly, as a result of focusing on urgent care, the NHS couldn’t deal with non-urgent care as much as anyone would have liked.
"The British people of course have understood this. Despite these exceptional efforts, there is now a considerable Covid backlog of elective care. 1,600 people have waited longer than a year for care before the pandemic. The latest data shows that this figure is now over 300,000.
"On top of this, the number of people waiting for elective care in England now stands at 6 million, that is up from 4.4 million before the pandemic."
He said the DHSC was investing £2bn to support elective recovery this year, and a further £8bn over the next three years.
