Hospital investment to reduce waiting times (FOI)Hospital investment to reduce waiting times (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Government of Jersey and published on
27 July 2021.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
Bailiwick Express on 29 June 2021 reported on planned investments in Health to reduce post-Covid backlog; 9,336 patients waiting for an outpatient appointment at the end of April 2021 '£3.5m Health bid to support covid recovery'.
The total number of patients waiting got reduced by 6% since the end of last year (9,930 patients waiting on 31 December 2020).
According to the latest gov.je waiting list report from 29 June 2021 the following departments achieved the most significant waiting list reduction in absolute numbers between the end of December 2020 and the end of April 2021:
Dermatology from 750 down to 272 - reduction of 478 (64%)
Physiotherapy from 1,078 down to 824 - reduction of 254 (24%)
Neurology from 842 down to 728 - reduction of 209 (66%)
Trauma & Orthopaedics from 750 down to 272 - reduction of 114 (14%)
Medical Oncology from 117 down to 38 - reduction of 79 (68%)
Cardiology from 184 down to 108 - reduction of 76 (41%)
The total waiting list for the remaining departments increased by 9% in the same period of time.
A
What specific investments have been made in these six departments that enabled such significant reduction of waiting lists in the first four months of 2021?
B
Please provide a breakdown of the £3.5Mm Health bid into individual departments / types of investments and the targeted reduction of the outpatient and inpatient waiting lists by the end of 2021 resulting from the investment.
Response
A
| Consultant Dermatologist (~5 months) | £127,000 |
| Consultant Neurologist (~ 1.5 months) | £27,000 |
| Two locum consultants | £49,000 |
| Waiting list initiative clinics | £39,000 |
| Virtual clinics and validation | £35,000 |
Reductions across specialties can be attributed to a range of service improvements including recruitment and retention, Patient Tracking List (PTL) data cleanse and verification, service review and prioritisation focused on target areas to reduce. This work includes the HCS PTL working group aimed on the tracking and delivery of appointments.
B
Final funding approved £3 million allocated over two financial years 2021 and 2022 as follows.
Period | Amount |
| Q3 and Q4 2021 | £1,716,263 |
| Q1 to Q3 2022 | £1,296,305 |
| Total | £3,012,567 |
The table below provides an analysis of the investment by department and planned reduction to PTL due to disruption caused by COVID-19.
Department | 2021 | 2022 | Total | IP | OP | Total |
| Preventative Programmes | £203,000 | £148,000 | £351,000 | | 5,729 | 5,729 |
| Medical | £446,000 | £0 | £446,000 | | 400 | 400 |
| Surgical | £385,000 | £385,000 | £770,000 | 427 | 596 | 1,023 |
| Social Care | £163,000 | £47,000 | £210,000 | | 590 | 590 |
| Mental Health | £194,000 | £64,000 | £258,000 | | 53 | 53 |
| Therapies | £326,000 | £652,000 | £977,000 | | 1,713 | 1,713 |
Grand Total | £1,716,000 | £1,296,000 | £3,013,000 | 427 | 9,081 | 9,508 |
gov.je