Hospital waiting times

Waiting Times

Waiting time tool for BNSSG GP Practices

Waiting times for out patient clinics and advice and guidance (if available on eRS) are available using the tool below which is updated monthly:

• Locally produced waiting times for BNSSG (October 2024)

To access the information please use the following instructions:

1. Download the file
2. Enable editing
3. Use menu bar at bottom to choose 'treatment and first' for clinic appointments and 'A&G' for advice and guidance response times.
4. Click on specialty to open drop down menu
5. Choose specialty

Please note:

• Referral waiting times are split into routine and urgent
• The median and 90^th centile waits are provided
• For referrals the waiting times are in WEEKS, for A&G the waiting time is in DAYS
• Use the drop down menu in the spreadsheet to select the specialty you are interested in.

The attached 'Steps to access local waiting times data on Remedy' document may also help.

Waiting times in BNSSG - Information for patients

A patient guide to approximate waiting times broken down by provider and specialty in BNSSG can be found on the ICB Public facing website here. Please note that these are average waiting times and is not sub-specialty specific so please warn patients that there may be shorter or longer delays depending on other factors.

Waiting times across the South West

South West – My Planned Care NHS - this link will take you to the NHS site for patients that give information on waiting times in individual trusts across the South West. Please note that the My Planned Care website uses average waiting times and is not sub-specialty specific so please warn patients that there may be shorter or longer delays depending on other factors.

Waiting times for other services

Physiotherapy waiting times are on the Physiotherapy page.

VitaHealth Mental Health Services waiting times are on the NHS Talking Therapies page.

While patients are waiting

****Update May 2023****

Waits for many outpatient clinics remain very long. The GPCB, One Care and acute trusts have jointly produced a leaflet to give guidance to patients about what they should do while they are waiting. This leaflet will be sent out with patient booking letters (for practices using the BNSSG Referral Service).

While You Are Waiting - Patient Leaflet

This information is also available electronically on the ICB public facing website: Waiting for your hospital care - NHS BNSSG ICB

Patients can also be encouraged to address any lifestyle factors that may help to improve their health while they are waiting to be seen:

Live Well - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Safety- netting

It is important that patients should be given appropriate safety-netting advice and encouraged to contact their GP surgery if they develop new symptoms, or if existing symptoms become worse, particularly development of any red flags.

Expediting Referrals

Requests from patients to expedite referrals without good reason should be politely declined and the patient advised that this will not speed up the process. Please see scenarios below:

Patient has been referred and is waiting to be seen but symptoms have significantly deteriorated.

If your patient’s symptoms have significantly deteriorated and you feel that your initial referral needs expediting then please consider one of the following options:

• If symptoms develop that could indicate a diagnosis of cancer then consider a 2WW referral.
• If there are new symptoms that could possibly be managed in primary care, then consider using advice and guidance (if available). A and G should be requested from the provider where the patient has been referred or where they are on a waiting list. A and G should not be used to directly request that an appointment is expedited.
• If the above options are not appropriate then email or write to the provider directly explaining why the referral should be expedited and include a copy of the original referral to help the clinicians in hospital triage appropriately. Please do not send a new referral on e-RS. This creates a duplicate referral, resulting in additional administration and paradoxical delays in patient care (e.g., multiple appointment dates, patient confusion and DNAs). If this is noticed during the triage process, the duplicate referral will be returned.

Patient is already under the care of a hospital or other provider but follow up has been delayed or possibly lost

• If your patient’s follow up appointment is overdue or you suspect they have been lost to follow up, the patient should be advised to contact their named clinician's secretary (contact details should be included on previous communication/clinic letters) initially.
• If you want to expedite your patient’s follow up appointment because their symptoms have significantly deteriorated or they have health inequalities, then please email or send a letter directly to their named clinician secretary (contact details should be included on previous communication/clinic letters).
• If you have requested and received urgent advice from a hospital clinician, e.g.via telephone calls, please follow this up with a letter sent directly to their named clinician, detailing the communication and request to expedite. Please do not send a new referral on e-RS (see reasons above).

Patient symptoms have not significantly changed since referral and there are no red flag or 2WW symptoms.

• Please do not request that an appointment is expedited without a good clinical reason as this may be declined or may not change the speed at which the patient will be seen. It also creates an additional administrative burden.
• Requests to expedite a referral should be justified on clinical grounds and clearly stated in any further communication to the provider.
• Patients who have health inequalities and who are likely to be at increased risk due to a significantly delayed appointment may also be suitable for an expedited appointment if appropriate. Please state concerns clearly.

Patient whose symptoms have got better of if they have had treatment elsewhere (e.g. by another provider or privately)

• If a patient no longer requires an appointment then please ask the patient to cancel so that their appointment can be freed up for someone else. 

NHS App - Wayfinder

From 30 January 2024, the NHS App will show patients an estimated waiting time for their hospital treatment at NHS acute trusts.

See the NHS App Waiting times - wayfinder briefing (January 2024)

Key information

• From 30 January 2024, the NHS App will show the mean (average) waiting time to patients aged 16 and over referred into a speciality at NHS acute trusts.
• Since December 2023, the waiting time to treatment methodology used within the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) also changed to reflect the mean (average) waiting time. This aligns e-RS with the approach used in the My Planned Care (MPC) Patient Portal since April 2021.
• NHS App users under the care of these trusts can also view their hospital referrals and appointments in one place and see a single point of contact and supporting information for their appointments.
• Data is updated weekly based on trust updates to WLMDS and MPC data, meaning the patient’s expected treatment date, based on average waiting time, may move based on updates to trust data.
• Both UHBW and NBT are live trusts and therefore their waiting times should be available via the App.

Resources

• Viewing hospital referrals and appointments on the NHS App (promotional pack) - NHS Digital