Posted on 12/29/2006 8:18:29 PM PST by grundle
Patients in some areas who need hip replacements and other orthopaedic operations are still having to wait more than two years for NHS treatment, figures show.
Almost one in four waits longer than 12 months for an operation after referral by their GP. For 3 per cent, the delay is twice that.
The average wait is 40 weeks - ten weeks longer than across all specialties.
The figures on Health Service performance were published as part of a progress report on the Government's pledge to treat all patients in 18 weeks.
Just 35 per cent of those needing hospital admission hit this target, according to estimates for the first three months of this year.
In trauma and orthopaedics, which includes hip replacements and broken bones, the figure is below 20 per cent.
About 70 to 80 per cent of patients who do not require admission are treated within 18 weeks, estimates for 2005 show.
Health Minister Andy Burnham said progress had been made since the summer but admitted the target was a 'major challenge' for the NHS.
He said: 'Doing more of the same is not the answer - we know that traditional tactics to reduce waiting times will not be enough this time.'
Mr Burnham said patient choice - where people are offered a range of hospitals for treatment - was tied to the need to achieve the 18-week target.
But only two out of five patients were actually being offered a choice of hospitals.
He said: 'We see the two things as part of the same coin. The goal is that two years from now people will have a choice of NHS provider, all of whom we want to be providing care within 18 weeks.'
Mr Burnham said he was confident the NHS could rise to the challenge and improve the quality of care for patients.
Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the BMA's consultants' committee, said NHS staff had already proved they can deliver improvements yet the Government insisted on giving contracts to private providers.
He said: 'Waiting times for operations such as cataracts have fallen substantially, and almost exclusively, because of the additional work undertaken by the NHS.
'Despite these successes the Government continues to look to the private sector to provide NHS services.
'All too often, contracts for NHS work are awarded to private companies at higher cost, without an accurate assessment of capacity, and contracts are often unfulfilled.
'The Government must now focus on developing long-term solutions to increase capacity within the NHS so that it can rise to the challenge of the 18-week target, and beyond, rather than turning to the private sector which so often undermines and destabilises the local health economy.'
My mother in law went to an orthopedist, and she said she needed a total hip replacement.
A few days later she had it done.
equal access to waiting lists
We'll get this kind of great medical care once the Lizard Queen ascends to the Cherry-Blossom Throne. Give it time.
I had a friend who had one. He had to get it in the off season. Now he's back playing softball. He's 76.
Welcome to socialized medicine.
Wow! Hell, I'm 30 and I don't feel like playing football haha.
It's a good thing she had it done before Hillary becomes President.
If liberals think healthcare is expensive now, they should wait until its free.
A friend of my fathers worked in both the US and Canada. He hired someone to a CDN mill, who started having heart problems. Saw a doctor, 'get some bed rest'. Felt worse, went back again, 'get some bed rest'. My Dad's friend got him back into the US, where he then received open heart surgery within a day or two.
I've got some good healthcare-related links on my page, if you feel inspired to send them to any leftards you have the root canal-like pleasure of knowing.
See my post #11.
Wow that's very telling. I often hear people around the office almost fantasize over the idea of socialized medicine. I always go out of my way to tell stories such as this, and this one will be told. I don't think they listen to me because I'm the office's resident 'right wing libertarian nut job'.
A fine example of hillarycare.
Hmmm - my brother-in-law's brother just had hip replacement with his choice of doctors affiliated with Philadelphia's outstanding Rothman Institute with privileges at several Philly and south Jersey hospitals where he could have gone for the operation (finally had Rothman himself do the procedure at a hospital not far from his home in Atlantic City) - sounds like the National Health Service has a ways to go......
**once the Lizard Queen ascends to the Cherry-Blossom Throne.**
No, pray, no!
Age is a factor also. Friend of my Mom's had to wait a lot longer than a younger person.
I forget specifically what he had, though it was severe. Something along the lines of a double-by pass, and the doctors said it was good they caught it when they did.
I spent almost the last three years living there for school, and had to visit the ER once. I was in the lab one night, broke a thermometer and it went fairly deep into my hand. I waited for ~2.5 hours to see a doctor and get an x-ray (for broken glass), not terribly long, but have heard of much longer.
Had a friend who had torn cartilidge in a knee (which I had surgery for a while back). The doctor told him to 'take it easy, and get rest' and couldn't get an MRI. From my initial pain, it took me a few weeks (factoring in initial doc visits, and my usual procrastinating) to get it taken care of.
What I pay for my insurance now (through my employer) is cheaper than what it was there (you are req'd to pay into it).
I'm not slamming anyone there, I met some great people there and Alberta is very conservative, even by US standards. However, the main argument in favor of it (of students I knew) was 'But everyone is covered'. IMO, the other misconception is that in the US, often you will see a bill and people think it is expensive. I think it is always favorable to see what you are paying for something, keeping in mind that 'there is no such thing as a free lunch'.
To their benefit, Canada is not NEARLY as litigious as the US. A cousin of mine was terminally ill with a rare tumor in his spinal cord. Our Aunt (a wealthy, greedy TX Republican) flew him to Canada almost weekly for experimental treatments that he was unable to receive in the US because it wasn't 'approved' yet. Nothing halts inovation like lawyers.
Goes without saying that legal issues are a huge cost of anything medically related.
Wow, what horror stories. I hope like hell for people who are subject to those healthcare 'systems' that the providers aren't as stingy with pain meds as they are in the US. People would suffer for weeks instead of days.
2 years? Try 15. My best friends grandma waited and died before she got it.
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