18-week target for treatment on NHS ‘could be watered down’

HOSPITAL BOSSES expect the 18-week target for NHS treatment to be watered down, documents suggest.

One of the 12 hospitals trialling new targets said it expects the 18week target to be replaced by a measure saying patients should wait no more than an average of 8.5 weeks for treatment.

Waiting times experts told the Health Service Journal (HSJ), which published the story, that this would represent a more “relaxed” target than the current 18week wait.

In March, NHS England announced proposals to scrap key targets for patients, including the four-hour A&E wait and the one to receive an operation within 18 weeks.

Under plans being piloted, the current 18-week target for people to start planned treatment would be replaced by one measuring the average time it takes to start treatment.

Board papers, from Northampton General Hospital Trust, published by HSJ, said: “The target average wait (mean) is expected to be 8.5 weeks from referral, although this has not yet been set.”

NHS England said testing was still “ongoing” and no decisions “whatsoever have been made on any particular measure, including a mean wait”.

Dr Rob Findlay, director of the software company Gooroo and a specialist in NHS planning, scheduling and wait times, told HSJ that if an 8.5 week average wait was brought in, it would represent a relaxation on the current 18-week wait.

He said the existing 18-week target equates to an average wait of eight weeks.

He said: “A target 8.5 week average wait is roughly equivalent to a 92nd centile wait of 19.4 weeks.

“This is probably a relaxation compared with the current 18-week target, and the Government should take flak for lowering standards (if such a target is introduced).”

NHS data published earlier this month showed that in September, 84.8 per cent of patients started treatment within 18 weeks against the target of 92 per cent.

More than 4.4 million patients are currently on the NHS waiting list for treatment – the highestever level.

The 18-week target was last met in February 2016.

Nuffield Trust research analyst, Jessica Morris, said: “There is going to be a challenging PR exercise here if this is introduced.

“Patients tend to care about how long they are going to wait, not how long everyone else in the queue has been waiting.

“We will want to see it rigorously tested, and the results, before a decision is made.”

NHS England told HSJ in a statement: “Testing and engagement with clinicians and patients on the best measures of short waits for routine care is ongoing, and it is completely untrue to claim that any decisions whatsoever have been made on any particular measure, including a mean wait.”

The news comes amid calls to tackle the “growing mental health crisis” have been made as cases handled by police officers rose more than a quarter in the last four years.

The head of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, said a fresh investigation into the matter was “urgently” needed after it emerged the number of mental health incidents involving police call-outs rose by 28 per cent between 2014-18, from 385,206 to 494,159. Federation chairman John Apter said the figures showed the situation was “beyond tipping point”.

The Government should take flak for lowering standards. Dr Rob Findlay, specialist in NHS planning.