THE health service in Warrington has revealed how it is working hard to reduce long backlogs of patients waiting for treatment.

It has also set out steps to rapidly boost capacity and resilience, including through increasing bed availability and staff numbers, ahead of the busy winter period.

The NHS is under pressure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic with health services across the country struggling to contain bloating waiting lists and facing growing demand for urgent care.

NHS figures show performance has deteriorated across England during the Covid crisis, with patients waiting longer in A&E departments, for routine cancer treatment and for ambulances.

As part of an effort to clear the backlog, NHS England committed in February 2022 to ending waiting times of more than two years, except in cases where the patient wishes to delay their treatment.

Now, the NHS has announced it has ‘virtually eliminated’ two-year waits for elective care, delivering on the first milestone in the NHS Elective Recovery Plan.

New regional figures show there are now just 463 patients waiting more than 104 weeks for routine treatment across the north west as of August 8.

This is down from 5,672 at the end of February, with NHS staff working hard to ensure the remaining patients who have not yet been treated are seen as quickly as possible.

This remaining group includes patients who have chosen to delay their treatment or who need very complex treatment.

Separate NHS England figures show that 24,504 people were waiting for routine, consultant-led hospital treatment at Warrington and Halton hospitals in May.

Moreover, 61 per cent of 7,671 A&E patients at Warrington Hospital were dealt with within four hours – slightly better than the national average.

Ambulance trusts have also struggled with growing pressures as a result of the pandemic, with response times in the north west rising from 22 minutes and eight seconds in June 2019 to 39 minutes and 46 seconds in the same month this year – although this is considerably lower than the average across England.

The service says it is already making progress on the next ambition, focusing on people who have been waiting more than two months after an urgent referral for suspected cancer or waiting 18 months for routine care.

The new same day emergency care centre at Warrington Hospital

The new same day emergency care centre at Warrington Hospital

One way in which Warrington Hospital is hoping to cut wait times further is through the opening of its new same day emergency care centre within a £6.3million extension of the emergency department.

The prime objective is to avoid patients having to be admitted to hospital, with suitable patients being transferred to the centre and discharged where appropriate on the same day.

Staff facilities and office space in the department have been relocated to the second floor, freeing up space to maximise clinical use.

Professor Simon Constable, the hospital’s chief executive, previously described the upgrade as a ‘game changer’.

He said: “Much of the delay in the emergency department occurs when staff run out of space to assess patients.

“This will be a real boost to our capacity to assess patients and move them on to the next diagnostic or care setting.

“The project will make a game-changing difference, and what we are hoping to do is make the department fit for the future in terms of how we currently work our same-day emergency care.”

Dr Michael Gregory, medical director for NHS England in the north west, says that Warrington and the rest of the region are making ‘great progress’ in reducing the longest waits.

He commented: “This is testament to the hard work and commitment of NHS staff who have shown drive and tenacity in tackling the waiting lists.

“However, we know there are significant numbers of patients still waiting to be seen, and while we have now seen almost all of those waiting the longest, the hard work does not stop here.

“The innovation across the region in tackling this problem has really shown the NHS at its best.”

Of course, the key to cutting waits further is through recruitment, and the Department of Health and Social Care says it is growing the national workforce with 4,300 more doctors and 10,200 more nurses recruited than last year, as well as commissioning NHS England to develop a long-term workforce plan.

“NHS staff have been working incredibly hard to bust Covid backlogs and have treated more than 15million patients in the last year,” a spokesman added.

Covid vaccinations and flu jabs for a key part of the NHS preparations for winter

Covid vaccinations and flu jabs for a key part of the NHS' preparations for winter

“Our community diagnostic centres have delivered more than 1.5million additional checks since July 2021, and the number of people waiting more than two years for treatment has dropped by more than 80 per cent since February.”

While good progress is being made at present, one eye must be kept on the impending autumn and winter periods, which are consistently hospitals’ busiest times of the year.

Health chiefs are planning to prepare services in the north west, including Warrington, for additional pressure by creating 7,000 more beds through a range of initiatives over the coming months.

The NHS will also recruit more call handlers across the country so that there will be at least 4,800 staff working in 111 and 2,500 in 999 call rooms to deal with higher demand.

Latest data shows that only 40 per cent of patients were able to leave hospital when they were ready to in July.

To combat this, the package of measures will also see the NHS working more closely with social care services to ensure people receive care and support quickly to be able to leave hospital safely.

Extensive planning is already underway for an autumn Covid-19 booster programme and annual flu campaign, so that those most at risk can get protected ahead of winter.

Other measures will include creating resilience in out-of-hospital services, including extra funding for mental health services and wellbeing coaches to support patients at a GP surgery level.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS’ national medical director, said: “Winter is always a busy period for the NHS, and this is the first winter where we are likely to see combined pressures from covid and flu.

“It is therefore right that we prepare as early as we can for the additional demand that we know we will face.

“Ahead of the winter, we want to make sure we are doing everything we possibly can to free up capacity so that staff can ensure patients get the care they need.

“This includes timely discharge, working with social care, better support in the community with the expansion of virtual wards and hospitals working closely together to ensure patients can be seen anywhere.

“As ever, it is vital that the public continues to use NHS services in the usual way including using 999 in an emergency and using NHS 111 online for other health issues.”