Bosses at Royal Stoke University Hospital say they are on course for eliminating 18-month waits for treatment by the end of March.

In December there were 117 patients at University Hospitals of North Midlands who had been waiting 78 weeks or more for planned care – down from a peak of 1,580 in 2021.

Chief executive Simon Evans told a UHNM board meeting that the trust was set to bring the number of 78-week 'long waiters' to zero next month.

But UHNM expects there will still be more than 4,200 patients experiencing year-long waits for treatment.

The number of 52-week waits increased to 4,897 in December, up from 4,574 and the highest number since last April.

Before the pandemic, no patients at UHNM were having to wait more than a year for planned care.

Before the pandemic, no patients were waiting more than a year for treatment (SWNS).

Mr Evans said: "Seventy-eight weeks, our longest category of patients waiting for planned care, continues to reduce and it is positive that we continue along that trajectory. Our trajectory ends at the end of March with an anticipated zero, and so far we have continued to make the necessary progress. We are still in line with getting there by the end of March.

"We still have three specialties where we are struggling to fully reduce that waiting list – we are receiving some mutual aid from the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital for some of our spinal patients where we just don't have the capacity to treat all of those patients in a timely way, and we have additional insourcing capacity in both endoscopy and general surgery.

"That continues to be positive, but we have to remember, however, that we are still in the worst quartile. Whilst we're doing what we said we'd be doing, we are in the worst quartile compared to our regional organisational peers."

Mr Evans added that two-year waits for treatment would become a 'near never event' in future. In February 2022 there were more than 500 patients who had been waiting 104 weeks or more.

Board members raised concerns about a current 'bulge' of patients in the 65-week-wait category, despite the decline in 72-week waits.

In December there were 117 patients waiting more than 78 weeks for treatment - down from 1,580 in 2021 (SWNS).

Non-executive director Leigh Griffin said: "I'm conscious that we have a 65-week waiting list of 1,330 patients at the end of December, any or all of them who will be 78-weeks by the end of March, and you're signalling that we're hoping to achieve zero 78-week waits by the end of March. Similarly there's a translation from 52 weeks to 65. We're seeing these bulges.

"How confident are you around hitting and sustaining zero 78-week?"

Mr Evans said this issue was reviewed on a weekly basis with regulators, with managers paying particular attention to patients about to move into the 78-week-wait category.

He added: "We address our capacity deficity on that basis. But you're right, you can have bulges in lower bands that will come through a pose us a challenge. But the difference is now that we're looking at it two to three months before facing that challenge."

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