NHS waiting list figures to 30 November 2004, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 08 Jan 2005 - 0:00 PDT


Main Points This Month - Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 9 months at the end of November 2004 was 306. This is 33,000 lower than November 2003. Of these 306, 12 were English residents waiting in Welsh hospitals.

• At the end of November, of the 306 waiting over 9 months, 140 patients for whom English commissioners are responsible were waiting over 12 months, of which 5 were waiting in Welsh trusts.

Waiting lists

• The total number of patients waiting to be admitted to NHS hospitals in England at the end of November 2004 was 843,900; a fall of 13,300 (1.6%) since the end of October 2004, and a fall of 115,000 (12.0%) since November 2003.

Statistical Notes

1. Inpatient waiting lists

Waiting list information is collected from English Primary Care Trusts on a responsible population basis (see note on next page) and from NHS Trusts on a hospital basis.

In interpreting the figures it should be noted that about half of patients (not including live babies) treated in hospitals are emergency cases and do not come from the waiting lists.

This publication contains waiting list information on patients who are waiting to be admitted for treatment either as a day case or ordinary admission. It does not include:

- patients admitted as emergency cases

- outpatients

- patients undergoing a planned programme of treatment e.g. a series of admissions for chemotherapy

- expectant mothers booked for confinement

- patients already in hospital but included on other waiting lists

- patients who are temporarily suspended from waiting lists for social reasons or because they are known to be not medically ready for treatment

Waiting times begin from the date the clinician decided to admit the patient. Patients subsequently offered a date but unable to attend have their waiting times calculated from the most recent date offered. These are known as self-deferred cases and are included in the total waiting.

The tables include an element of estimation and incorporate all returns and amendments received from Primary Care Trusts and NHS Trusts up to 5th January 2005.

2. Hospital and Commissioner based lists

There are fundamental differences in coverage between commissioner based and hospital based information. Commissioner based returns exclude all patients living outside England and all privately funded patients waiting for treatment in NHS hospitals. However they do include NHS funded patients, living in England, who are waiting for treatment in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, abroad, and at private hospitals; these patients are not included in the corresponding hospital based returns. Historically there has been a 1% to 3% difference in the overall size of the waiting lists reported for NHS hospital trusts and English residents, the trust-based figure being the larger.

The differences are summarised in the diagram below which can be viewed by clicking on the link below.

Commissioner based returns reflect responsible based populations, which is defined as:

Responsible Population:

- all those patients resident within the PCT boundary; plus

- all patients registered with GPs who are members of the PCT, but are resident in another PCT; minus

- All patients resident in the PCT, but registered with a GP who is a member of another PCT

3. Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

The majority, 277, of the reported breaches of waiting time targets were at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The Department expects that most patients waiting longer than the target of 9 months will have been seen by the end of December and the remainder by the end of January 2005.

4. Revisions

Department of Health policy is to publish revised figures with subsequent statistical releases unless it is decided that the magnitude of the change merits earlier notification.

Additional Information

Full details of waiting lists and times for individual organisations are available from the address below.

Waiting Lists Analysis
Department of Health
Room 4E57
Quarry House
Quarry Hill
Leeds LS2 7UE

Telephone: 0113 254 6387
Email: DCVA-PPRT@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Press enquiries contact:
Press Office
Department of Health
Telephone: 020 7210 5221

Related links
Download Hospital and Commissioner based lists (PDF, 8K)

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