In recent years that the NHS has been put under an unprecedented amount of stress. The Covid pandemic saw Nightingale Hospitals having to be built, testing centres created and ordinary buildings and shop spaces transformed into vaccination hubs.
And in recent months ambulance workers and nursing staff strikes have added to the pressure being felt by the NHS, as it continues to work its way through backlogs of patient appointments.
At the end of 2022, Bristol Live reported that the highest proportion of patients waiting more than an hour to be handed over, in the week prior to December 30, was 54 per cent at University Hospitals Bristol & Weston (360 out of 666 patients). This NHS Trust topped the list for hospital patients waiting more than an hour to be handed over by ambulance staff.
According to an NHS tracker created by Reach Data based on data from December 2022, Ambulance response times are still far longer than NHS targets and this is in addition to the long A&E wait times being faced, not just in England, but here in Bristol, too. These types of issues being faced in the NHS are just some of the reasons why nurses and ambulance workers have called on the government during their industrial walk outs, as the feel 'patient safety' needs to be improved urgently.
Here's a full run down of the waiting lists and times at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust. Data recorded dates back to November and December 2022.
You can use this tool to find out more about your local wait times. Article continues below...
Waiting lists
Data states that there are currently 47,418 people on the waiting list for all treatment types at North Bristol NHS Trust and, of these, 16,320 have been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment, while a total of 2,980 people have been waiting more than a year - the average waiting time for those on the list is currently 12 weeks.
At University Hospitals Bristol and Weston, the number of people on the waiting list for all treatment types is far greater - 63,041. Of these, 28,246 people have been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment and a total of 5,888 people have been waiting more than a year - the average waiting time for those on the list is currently 15.4 weeks.
To put this into perspective, the NHS target percentage of patients who have been on the waiting list for fewer than 18 weeks is 92%, however both the England average and Bristol's NHS Trusts fall way below this. The England average is currently 60%, while University Hospitals Bristol and Weston, and North Bristol currently stand at 55% and 66% respectively.
This makes University Hospitals Bristol and Weston 5% below the country's average and North Bristol 6% above.
Mental health
According to the data, from November 2022, there are 56 people on the waiting list for mental health services at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. Of these, 10 have been waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment but none have been waiting more than a year - the average waiting time for those on the list is currently 6.5 weeks.
A&E waiting times
The NHS target percentage of A&E attendances within four hours stands at 95%, with the England average 30% below this at time of writing (65%) and both North Bristol and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston below even this (56% and 53% respectively).
A total of 786 patients spent more than 12 hours from decision to admit to admission at North Bristol NHS Trust, according to data from December 2022. The same data states that that same figure for University Hospitals Bristol and Weston was higher at 1,217 patients.
Ambulance response times
With ambulance worker strikes leading to much scrutiny from patients who faced many hours of waiting to be admitted to hospital from the ambulance back in December 2022, the average ambulance response times for South Western Ambulance Service are still way off target, according to the data from that month
Here is what the data shows:
- Category 1 calls have a target (the national standard for the average response time) of 7 minutes - the ambulance service response time was in fact 13 minutes, 11 seconds
- Category 2 calls have a target of 18 minutes - the ambulance service response time was in fact 2 hours, 39 minutes
- Category 3 calls have a target of 1 hour - the ambulance service response time was in fact 5 hours, 45 minutes
- Category 4 calls have a target of 3 hours - the ambulance service response time was in fact 5 hours, 28 minutes. The ambulance trust says for Category 4 patients the standard is for the 90th centile response time and not the average response time
Category one calls refer to life-threatening illnesses and injuries, specifically cardiac arrest, while category two is for emergency calls, such as stroke patients, category three is for urgent calls like abdominal pains and which will include patients being treated in their own home. Category four calls refer to a non-urgent problem, such as stable clinical cases, which require transportation to a hospital ward or clinic.
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: "Our ambulance clinicians strive every day to deliver their best care for patients, but our performance has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, partly due to handover delays at emergency departments. Health and social care services are under enormous pressure. We are working with our partners in the NHS and social care, to do all we can to improve the service that patients receive.”
Cancer waiting times
With many cancer patients having to face cancellations and postponements to their appointments during the pandemic, many will now be pleased to see that both England's and Bristol's data (from November 2022) was close to the NHS target. At North Bristol NHS Trust, the percentage of patients waiting less than a month from a decision to treat to a first treatment for cancer, was 86.5%.
While at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, that figure exceeded the country's average (91.6%), and stood at 93.4% - just a couple of percentage points away from the NHS target of 96%.
Read next:
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