Crack teams of top doctors have cut waiting lists at four under-pressure NHS trusts in Yorkshire
Sending crack teams of top doctors to four hospital trusts across the region with high levels of unemployment is cutting waiting lists, Wes Streeting has said.
All 20 hospital trusts are in the North or West Midlands, with four across Yorkshire and the Humber.
Those are Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Sheffield and Doncaster Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts.
Other trusts which have got extra help include Northern Lincolnshire and Goole and South Tees Hospitals foundation trusts.
“By sending top doctors to provide targeted support to hospitals in the areas of highest economic inactivity, we are getting sick Brits back to health and back to work,” Mr Streeting said.
Data from October to January showed waiting lists in these areas were reduced at more than double the rate of the rest of the country.
Waiting times have fallen 130% faster in areas where the Government scheme is in action.
A total of 37,000 cases have been removed from the waiting lists in 20 areas, averaging almost 2,000 patients per trust.
The Health Secretary added: “The investment and reform this Government has introduced has already cut NHS waiting lists by 193,000, but there is much more to do.
“I am determined to transform health and social care so it works better for patients – but also because I know that transformation can help drag our economy out of the sluggish productivity and poor growth of recent years.
“We have to get more out of the NHS for what we put in. By taking the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, reforming the way surgeries are running, we are cutting waiting lists twice as fast at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
“As we boost NHS productivity and deliver fundamental reform through our plan for change, you will see improvements across the service in the coming weeks and months.”
Mr Streeting gave examples of how the scheme has worked, including Warrington & Halton, which has run gynaecology clinics at weekends, with one-stop models reducing the need for follow-up appointments.
And East Lancs Hospitals Trust focused on streamlining diagnostic pathways and increasing capacity for echocardiography, or heart scans, reducing the waiting list for these from around 2,700 patients to about 700, with all patients having their scan within six weeks.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has also been used as an example of how to cut waiting lists by using data analysis to cut the time between diagnosis and consultation.
In 2021, the trust had more than 4,000 patients waiting more than a year for treatment, one of the highest rates in the country. At the start of the year, that figure dropped to below 10.
The improvements come as data shows the number of people unable to work due to sickness is at its highest since the 1990s.
Following the success of the programme, the Government has confirmed similar crack teams will be rolled out further this year.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of NHS England, dubbed the “world’s largest quango” this week.
While this coming week, Sir Keir is expected to announce dramatic changes to the welfare system to try and force people back into work.