Local Health Communities Pledge To Hit 18 Week Target Early, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 20 Feb 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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Thirteen local health areas have pledged to meet the government's 18 week treatment target a full year before the rest of the NHS.

The government has said that by the end of 2008, patients can expect a maximum wait of 18 weeks from referral to the start of treatment. Eighteen weeks is the maximum but many patients will be treated more quickly, most in approximately seven weeks.

In the past it was not uncommon for people to wait over 2 years for an operation, now no-one waits longer than six months and the average wait for inpatient treatment is around eight weeks.

On a visit to King's College Hospital, which helped design the measurement solution to delivering the target, Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt said: "This is about the NHS helping change people's lives by improving care and cutting unnecessary delays. This will lead to a much better experience for patients."

"Our NHS staff are eager to ensure the very best care is available. The Early Achievers announced today show that the NHS believes that this can be achieved and they are keen to lead the transformation of services required to deliver faster treatment and improve patient care.

On a visit to Manchester PCT to meet staff who have pledged to help meet the 18 week target a full year ahead of target, Health Minister Andy Burnham said:

"Reaching our target of 18 weeks will be a major achievement in the 60th anniversary year for the NHS. It will lead to a major cultural change in our health service, making it more streamlined and productive and we want staff to be in the lead on this. Having driven down waiting times to their lowest ever, it is the right time to press for even further improvements to patients."

"Patients and staff told us that to tackle waiting, we need to look at the entire patient journey rather than individual parts of their treatment such as assessment, diagnosis or treatment. This is what 18 weeks is all about - it captures the whole patient journey and will guarantee a maximum wait of 18 weeks from referral to treatment, with many patients seen even more quickly than that."

"The necessary improvements will be achieved by NHS staff, clinicians and managers working together locally to understand how they can reduce unnecessary delays, rather than being told what to do and how to do it from Whitehall. The Early Achievers announced today show that the NHS believe that this can be achieved and that they are keen to lead the transformation of services 18 weeks requires in order to improve the service they offer patients."

Matthew Kershaw, Chief Operating Officer for the East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust who has led one of the pilot sites for the 18-week project and will now be running one of the Early Achiever Sites which will deliver the targets early, said:

"This change will be one of the single most important improvements in patient care since the beginning of the NHS and we at East Kent are delighted to be playing a part in making it happen nationally.

"The challenge for us is to improve the experience of patients waiting for elective treatment by identifying and supporting fundamental change from all those involved as well as treating more patients quickly. This will massively reduce waiting times so that that they no longer define the NHS.

"We have already begun the process and all my colleagues in the Hospital Trust and the Primary Care Trust who have been involved to date believe that we can successfully achieve this new target and are looking forward to the challenge."

Yeovil District Hospital, one of the early achievers, has already made great progress to meeting the target by changing staffing practices, extending roles and increasing the involvement of GPs with a special interest.

They also have one stop multi disciplinary clinics for orthopaedics, pre assessments involving anaesthetists and an Enhanced Recovery pathway.

As a result, they have driven down waits for MRI scans from 22 weeks in 2004 to three weeks in 2007 and for ultrasound tests from 16 to three weeks.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Notes:

Comprehensive information on the 18 week target, with materials to help staff implement it is available from http://www.18weeks.nhs.uk.

This referral to treatment approach was first used for patients with suspected cancer, who are seen, diagnosed and begin treatment within 62 days. This shows that this approach is achievable. We now want many more patients to benefit from this.

The referral to treatment approach was first used for patients with suspected cancer, who are now seen, diagnosed and begin treatment within 62 days. This shows that this approach is achievable.

The Early Achiever health communities are in the table below:

Early Achievers

SHA	PCT	Population	Acute Trust(s)	Specialties
East Midlands	Derbyshire County PCT	712,000	Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (other Trusts to be brought in as far as possible)	All
	Derby City PCT	234,000		All
North West	Blackpool PCT	143,000	Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Trust	All
	Bolton PCT	265,000	Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, Greater Manchester Surgical Centre (BMI)	All
	Manchester PCT	437,000	Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust	All
	Western Cheshire PCT	233,000	Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	All
	Halton and St Helens PCT Knowsley PCT	296,000 150,000	St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust	All
South East Coast	Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT	705,000	East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust	All
South West	Torbay Care Trust	133,000	South Devon Health Care NHS Trust	All
	Somerset PCT	512,000	Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust	All
West Midlands	Walsall Teaching PCT	253,000	Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust	All
	Herefordshire PCT	178,000	Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust	All
Yorkshire and Humber	Doncaster PCT	289,000	Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	All

Shadow sites

SHA	PCT	Acute Trust(s)	Specialties
South Central	Hampshire PCT	Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust	tbc
South East Coast	Medway PCT	Medway NHS Trust	Orthopaedics Paediatrics Respiratory

For further information please go to:
UK Department of Health