NNUH waiting list falls by nearly 25% in a year
Staff working for the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust have today been praised for helping slash waiting times and bringing about a near 25 per cent fall in the waiting list.
A year ago the waiting list was 9,620 patients and is now 7,333 patients – a 24 per cent reduction in just one year. The Trust's hospitals have also achieved the A&E waiting time target and the cancer waiting time targets.
Eighty-three per cent of in-patients now wait less than 18 weeks for treatment from the point of GP referral and the figure for out-patients is 91 per cent. The national target is for 100 per cent of patients to wait 18 weeks or less by December this year.
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust is one of the busiest hospital trusts in England. Out of 169 hospitals nationally, NNUH ranks as the eighth busiest in the country.
The latest patient surveys also reveal very high levels of satisfaction with the quality of services. The Dr Foster Patient Experience Tracker results for February 2008 (sample 615 patients) were:
– 98% were treated with respect and dignity
– 97% were happy with the care they received
– 92% said ward staff were approachable, professional and sensitive
– 84% said staff answered questions in a way they could understand
– 81% said they were kept well informed by staff
A separate analysis of comment cards completed by 2,441 patients between July 2007 and February 2008 has also shown high levels of patient satisfaction with catering and cleanliness:
– 98% said cleanliness was good or excellent
– 93% rated the food as good or excellent
– 100% said staff were helpful
Chief executive Paul Forden said: “Getting waiting lists down so fast and treating so many patients more quickly than before has taken a huge amount of effort from all our staff. They deserve our sincere thanks for delivering what amounts to monumental change in recent years to ensure that NHS patients get treatment much more quickly. The challenge for us now is to build on this.”