Research has revealed that some areas across the UK are facing huge backlogs for common hospital treatments while others have almost none.
The postcode lottery is highlighted by regional disparities in which thousands of patients have been left in discomfort and pain for months while waiting for procedures that would be readily available only 100 miles away.
A total of 2,745 people in Birmingham and Solihull have been waiting more than a year for eye operations, while only two people in Barnsley are in the same situation. Likewise, a total of 3,656 people in Norfolk and Waveney have still not had their orthopaedic surgery despite being on the waiting list there for more than 52 weeks. But that is 100 times more than the 36 people in North East Lincolnshire.
The head of health analytics at Lane, Clark and Peacock, which undertook the study, found the dramatic variation when they analysed official figures by NHS clinical commissioning group (CCG) area. They used the most recent NHS England waiting times data, published last month, which set out the details of the 4.45 million people who in June were due to undergo hospital treatment, often beyond the 18-week supposed maximum wait.
At the time, 20,776 people in Devon were on the waiting list for eye care, usually surgery for cataracts or glaucoma – 31.5 times more than the 659 in West Lancashire. Devon also had 455 patients who had been waiting more than a year for heart surgery, while only one person was in the same position in five CCG areas, including Halton in Merseyside.
Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard said the wide differentials were influenced by a number of factors including deprivation, the age and size of the local population, and how badly areas had been hit by coronavirus.
LCL’s findings come as new research by Labour has found that patients are having to wait more than 18 weeks for some major forms of care at 83 different hospital trusts in England.
Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Patients in every town and city are forced to endure lengthening waits for treatment in debilitating pain and facing anxiety at the risk of permanent disability. Patients are paying the price for Tory failure to support the NHS and staff over the past decade.”
