Waiting lists priority for new hospital boss
The new boss of Staffordshire’s main hospital says reducing the trust’s ‘extraordinary’ waiting lists will be his top priority. Dr Simon Constable started in his role as the new chief executive at University Hospitals of North Midlands this week, and told the trust’s annual general meeting that he had been ‘blown away’ by the warm welcome he had received.
Speaking after the AGM, Dr Constable said that cutting waiting times for both planned treatment and emergency care would be his main focus during his first year in charge. Latest figures show that more than 5,100 patients at UHNM are waiting more than a year for treatment – compared to none at all before the pandemic – with 12-hour trolley waits affecting 6.2 per cent of people attending A&E.
Dr Constable said that UHNM, like the NHS as a whole, was still dealing with the consequences of the pandemic, including long waiting lists. But he acknowledged that such lengthy waiting times were ‘unacceptable’.
He said: “The big thing is our waiting list, in terms of our patients waiting for planned procedures, but also, of course, emergency care, and particularly as we head into winter. So my absolute priority between now and the end of this financial year are those two pathways.
“These really long rates are extraordinary. Pre-pandemic it was extraordinary to have somebody waiting 52 weeks. What we’re finding is the specialties that are most affected by the long waits are the ones that were most affected during the pandemic – they didn’t carry on during the pandemic.
“So there’ll be targets that have been set nationally, around 65 weeks, 52 weeks, and our job will be to achieve those targets, incrementally, over the coming 12 to 18 months.
“It’s not static, of course. Once it’s sorted, it’s not necessarily going to stay that way. But we recognize that patients waiting for such periods of time is just unacceptable and we need to bring them down.”
Dr Constable is the permanent replacement for Tracy Bullock, who stood down as chief executive in June for health reasons. He has worked as a consultant physician and clinical pharmacologist, and previously served as chief executive at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Constable joins UHNM as a number of major projects are coming to fruition – such as the development of the new community diagnostic centre in Hanley, and the long-awaited sale of the Royal Infirmary site for housing – with the new Labour government likely to have a big impact as well. The new chief executive told attendees at the AGM that it would be important for UHNM to ‘get the right level of ambition’, while also ensuring its aims are ‘doable’.
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Constable said he believed UHNM staff were up to the challenge. He said: “I’ve been blown away by the warm welcome I’ve had, and by the enthusiasm of everybody I’ve met right the way across all of our sites. There’s a real grit and determination and willingness to do the right thing for our patients. I think that was palpable from day one.”
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