More than 91,000 people were waiting to start treatment at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in April, the latest available figures.
That’s up 27 per cent from the previous April, when about 72,000 people were waiting for treatment at the NHS trust.
About 67 per cent of people waiting for specialist treatment at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in April this year had been waiting less than eighteen weeks – well below the NHS’ operational standard of 92 per cent. The trust’s performance has gone down slightly over the year, when about 69 per cent of patients had been waiting less than eighteen weeks.
The figure dropped to 55 per cent for trauma and orthopaedic surgery, 58 per cent for general surgery, and 58 per cent for gynaecological treatment. Elderly medicine, respiratory treatment and general internal medicine waiting times were generally shorter.
For comparison, King’s College Hospital’s record was slightly better, with about 72 per cent of patients waiting less than eighteen weeks for treatment. The trust had about 77,000 people on the waiting list as of April 2022. Lewisham and Greenwich was slightly worse, with 63 per cent of patients waiting less than eighteen weeks to be treated. St George’s University hospitals had 72 per cent seen to within eighteen weeks.
It comes after Guy’s and St Thomas’ cancelled 400 operations last-minute over the Christmas period, after the rapid spread of the Omicron variant caused staff shortages.
It is true that the pandemic has hugely exacerbated waiting times in Guy’s and St Thomas’, as it has in hospitals across the UK. But the trust was not meeting the NHS standard for waiting times even before Covid-19. In April 2019, about 87 per cent of people on the 77,600-person waiting list had been seen within eighteen weeks – much better than 2022’s figure, but still below the NHS standard. In both April 2018 and 2017 that figure stood at about 89 per cent.
Southwark Council’s Labour head of public health slammed the Conservative national government for the huge waiting list.
Evelyn Akoto said: “Too many people in Southwark are waiting too long for treatment on the NHS. That’s not good enough, and it’s ruining people’s lives.
“The Conservatives can’t blame this on the pandemic. After a decade of Tory mismanagement, the NHS went into the pandemic with staff shortages and record waiting lists.”
Cllr Akoto called for more the government to spend more money on the problem, but it is unclear what exactly is needed. The NHS budget for the 2021/2022 financial year stood at £190.3 billion, according to the King’s Fund charity.
A spokesperson for Guy’s and St Thomas’ said: “We are absolutely committed to reducing the time patients wait for diagnosis and treatment, with a particular focus on patients who have been waiting the longest. We understand how difficult it is for patients and their families who are waiting for care.
“We have introduced many initiatives across the Trust to support them, including our successful High Intensity Theatre (HIT) lists which allow us to treat more patients in a single session.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson did not comment on Guy’s specifically, but said: “Demand for the NHS is rising. We are working to bust the Covid backlogs with record investment into the NHS so patients can be seen quicker and access life-saving care.
“Good progress is being made on cutting waiting times with a two thirds reduction in the number of patients waiting longest for treatment since February.
“We are also adopting innovative ways of working to ensure patients have easier access to tests – and community diagnostic centres have already delivered more than a million checks and scans since last July.”