West Herts NHS Trust ‘sorry’ it is not meeting waiting time target

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust had 45,024 waiting to start treatment in March and is said to not be reaching its target of treating people within 18 weeks of referral.

A total of 60.6% of people have been waiting less than 18 weeks for help from local hospitals, which is far from the 92% target that it should meet.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised to its patients and says that it is committed to reducing waiting times as quickly and safely as possible.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “We’re extremely sorry that patients are waiting longer than expected for treatment. Our staff continue to work tirelessly to keep our patients safe and identify which patients are the highest clinical priority.”

They acknowledged: “The number of Covid patients admitted to our hospitals has been very high compared to other trusts in the region and during the first and second peaks of the pandemic in 2020, routine planned care was paused for some months.

The spokesperson added: “This allowed us to focus our efforts and resources on treating COVID-19 patients. We have been working with a number of local independent sector providers since March 2020 to ensure the delivery of time-critical surgery. This partnership working has enabled more than 4,500 patients who needed surgery to be treated.”

This news comes as the NHS has released data as part of its most ambitious catch-up plan to date as all trusts in England fail to meet treatment targets.

The latest monthly performance data, from the NHS, show more than two million diagnostic tests were carried out in March.

Despite this, the average waiting time for someone receiving treatment from West Herts NHS Trust is 13 and a half weeks.

Data shows that 1,056 have been waiting for treatment from the Trust for more than a year.

Those waiting for treatment for eye conditions were the highest, with 86,004 people waiting for their treatment.

More than 730,000 are waiting for treatment in the East of England with 6,358,050 in total across England.