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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Health
Danny Rigg

NHS waiting times at every Merseyside hospital trust

The waiting list for one department of Liverpool University Hospitals has been cut by 60 weeks since March this year.

Across Merseyside, Halton and West Lancashire, 20 hospital departments fail to give patients their first specialist appointment within the NHS's 18-week target for starting consultant-led treatment, according to the latest data from My Planned Care.

Hospital trusts across the country submit data to My Planned Care, an NHS website where waiting times for each department at each hospital trust are displayed and updated each week. The waiting times are for elective waiting lists, not emergency or critical care, or waiting lists for cancer patients who are supposed to be seen by a specialist within two weeks of a referral.

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The figure displayed for each department is the average waiting time for all patients. The actual waiting time for each patient will vary depending on the clinical urgency of their case, so they may wait for less or more time than the average.

When average waiting times were shared on My Planned Care for the first time in March, one department at Liverpool University Hospitals had one of the top ten longest average waiting times for treatment of any department in NHS trusts in the country.

At the time, patients would wait an average of 82 weeks - more than one and a half years - for upper gastrointestinal surgery. Now, the average waiting time for treatment at that department is 22 weeks. It doesn't even rank in the top 10 in Merseyside.

The ECHO has collated all the available average waiting times for each department at the following NHS Foundation Trusts - Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool University Hospitals - which includes Aintree, Broadgreen and Royal Liverpool - Liverpool Women's Hospital, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital, St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals, The Walton Centre, Warrington and Halton Hospitals, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital - which includes Arrowe Park and Wirral Women and Children's Hospital.

Out of all the departments at these hospital trusts, the longest wait is for ear, nose and throat services at Liverpool University Hospitals, with an average waiting time of 31 weeks for an initial appointment. The busiest hospital trust in the Liverpool City Region, it dominated the top five spots in our region, according to data from My Planned Care this week.

Department NHS Foundation Trust Average waiting time for first outpatient appointment (weeks) Average waiting time for treatment (weeks)
Ear, Nose and Throat Liverpool University Hospitals 31 37
Maxillofacial Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 29 36
General Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 27 36
Urology Liverpool University Hospitals 27 29
Paediatric Dentistry Alder Hey Children's Hospital 27 28
Oral Surgery St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 6 14
Haematology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 6 13
Ophthalmology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 6 9
Orthopaedics Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 5 8
Haematology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 5 4

Departments at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital, and St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals, had the shortest waiting times. Patients might wait for just over a month for an initial appointment for haematology, ophthalmology, orhtopaedics and oral surgery at these trusts, and they could wait just a few weeks longer for treatment to begin.

NHS patients have a right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of a GP referral. If their treatment won't start within this timeframe, patients have a 'Right to Choose' to be treated at another NHS hospital trust, or by a private provider paid for by the NHS. For cancer patients, this rule applies if they won't be seen by a specialist within two weeks of a referral.

Although waiting times remain above target in many specialities across the region's hospitals, the significant drop for some departments in the last nine months, and the short waits in some hospitals, will be welcome news at a time when staff shortages, patients being treated in corridors, hours-long waits for ambulances, and strikes by health workers are dominating the news.

One regional initiative to clear the backlog of cases built up during the Covid-19 pandemic is the 'Theatres Improvement Project', which has seen 19,000 more people in Cheshire and Merseyside receive operations in the last 12 months than in the year before.

This is thanks to the use of dashboards and tools to maximise the use of operating theatres and improve booking and scheduling procedures. Two local hospitals - Liverpool Women's and Liverpool Heart and Chest - are now in the top 10% nationally in terms of theatre utilisation.

Dr Sinead Clarke, associate medical director for system quality and improvement at Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System, said: "This project has been instrumental in providing quicker access to surgical procedures for thousands of patients in Cheshire and Merseyside, improving theatre utilisation through better booking and scheduling of operations, which in turn is reducing waiting lists, and, most importantly, improving people's outcomes."

Department NHS Foundation Trust Average waiting time for first outpatient appointment (weeks) Average waiting time for treatment (weeks)
Ear, Nose and Throat Liverpool University Hospitals 31 37
Maxillofacial Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 29 36
General Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 27 36
Urology Liverpool University Hospitals 27 29
Paediatric Dentistry Alder Hey Children's Hospital 27 28
Gynaecology Liverpool Women's Hospital 27 27
Vascular Wirral University Teaching Hospital 24 26
Dermatology Liverpool University Hospitals 23 25
Cardiology Liverpool University Hospitals 23 24
Paediatric, Ear Nose and Throat Alder Hey Children's Hospital 23 22
Oral Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 21 28
Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital 21 19
Pain Management Warrington and Halton Hospitals 20 22
Paediatric Surgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital 20 20
Ophthalmology Liverpool University Hospitals 20 20
Gastroenterology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 20 20
Dermatology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 20 17
Orthopaedics Liverpool University Hospitals 19 29
Colorectal Liverpool University Hospitals 19 23
Paediatric Cardiology Alder Hey Children's Hospital 19 18
Paediatric Gastroenterology Alder Hey Children's Hospital 18 20
Gynaecology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 18 18
Maxillofacial Surgery Warrington and Halton Hospitals 17 25
Gastroenterology Liverpool University Hospitals 16 21
Cardiology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 16 16
Ear, Nose and Throat Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 16 16
Gynaecology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 15 20
Pain Management Liverpool University Hospitals 15 17
Paediatric Plastic Surgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital 15 16
Ophthalmology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 15 16
Rheumatology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 15 15
General Surgery Wirral University Teaching Hospital 15 14
Gynaecology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 14 24
Dermatology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 14 16
Cardiology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 14 16
Cardiology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 14 15
Paediatric Ophthalmology Alder Hey Children's Hospital 14 14
Vascular Liverpool University Hospitals 13 22
Gynaecology Alder Hey Children's Hospital 13 14
General Medicine Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 13 8
Ear, Nose and Throat Warrington and Halton Hospitals 12 23
Orthopaedics Wirral University Teaching Hospital 12 19
Paediatric Urology Alder Hey Children's Hospital 12 14
Paediatric Orthopaedics Alder Hey Children's Hospital 12 13
Oral Surgery Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 12 13
Paediatrics Wirral University Teaching Hospital 12 13
Rheumatology Liverpool University Hospitals 12 11
Neurology The Walton Centre 12 11
Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery Warrington and Halton Hospitals 11 25
Colorectal Wirral University Teaching Hospital 11 22
Respiratory Warrington and Halton Hospitals 11 19
Paediatric Surgery Wirral University Teaching Hospital 11 16
Respiratory Wirral University Teaching Hospital 11 16
Colorectal Warrington and Halton Hospitals 11 15
Cardiology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 11 14
Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery Liverpool University Hospitals 10 22
Orthopaedics Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 22
Gynaecology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 20
Urology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 10 20
Urology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 19
Haematology Wirral University Teaching Hospital 10 18
Gastroenterology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 13
Ophthalmology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 10
Rheumatology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 10 10
Urology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 10 9
Breast St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 10 8
General Surgery Warrington and Halton Hospitals 9 27
Pain Management St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 9 17
Oral Surgery Wirral University Teaching Hospital 9 16
Neurosurgery The Walton Centre 9 12
Breast Warrington and Halton Hospitals 9 12
Paediatric Neurosurgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital 9 11
Respiratory St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 9 10
Orthopaedics St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 8 24
General Surgery St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 8 16
Ophthalmology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 8 14
Ear, Nose and Throat Wirral University Teaching Hospital 8 13
Haematology Warrington and Halton Hospitals 8 8
Plastic Surgery St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 7 29
Ear, Nose and Throat St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 7 14
Breast Liverpool University Hospitals 7 13
General Surgery Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 7 13
Rheumatology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 7 10
Gastroenterology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 7 9
General Medicine Warrington and Halton Hospitals 7 8
Breast Wirral University Teaching Hospital 7 6
Urology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 6 15
Oral Surgery St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 6 14
Haematology St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals 6 13
Ophthalmology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 6 9
Orthopaedics Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 5 8
Haematology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital 5 4
Colorectal St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals not available 21
Cardiology Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital not available 12
Paediatric Oral Surgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital not available not available
Spinal Surgery Alder Hey Children's Hospital not available not available
Cardiac Surgery Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital not available not available
Gastroenterology Southport and Ormskirk Hospital not available not available
Maxillofacial Surgery Southport and Ormskirk Hospital not available not available
Oral Surgery Warrington and Halton Hospitals not available not available
Vascular Warrington and Halton Hospitals not available not available
Maxillofacial Surgery Wirral University Teaching Hospital not available not available

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