HOSPITAL waiting times are improving but challenges still remain. That is the message from Health Minister David Anderson.
Mr Anderson was reporting on progress over the past year since setting up a waiting time management group with a remit to examine strategies to improve efficiency and reduce delays.
He said tight budgets coupled with ever increasing demand from a growing and ageing population meant waiting times would remain an issue despite the efforts made.
The hospital’s management information and technology medical advisor Dr Iain Kewley said there were huge differences in the waiting times for different areas. Out patient waiting times for pain management and dermatology headed the list. Typically, 279 people waited 37.9 months and 1,382 people waited 35.9 months respectively. On average, diabetic patients waited six months.
Top of the in patient waiting list was ENT with 287 people waiting 10.4 months, bottom was gynaecology with a 1.2 month wait. He said if the £1m funding could be found to run their sixth operating theatre (currently unused), the ENT list would fall by half within a year.
‘If we won the lottery there’s a chance it could open,’ Mr Anderson said.
A Waiting Time Management Group has considered ways to address waiting times.
Urgent cases are usually seen within two weeks. New initiatives for non-urgent matters include ensuring waiting lists are accurate and up-to-date, and establishing a central appointments bureau.
This will allow patients to make and cancel appointments which can then be quickly reallocated to others.
A text messaging reminder service is being introduced and patients have been encouraged to take responsibility for attending by confirming to the hospital that they will be there.
The new self referral service for physiotherapy - rather than booking an appointment via a patient’s GP - means patients are treated within three working days and ways of extending this approach are being considered.
On-line bookings and e-forms are also being considered as ways to improve efficiency further.
Various other strategies have also been used to improve efficiency by standardising procedures and simplifying processes, for example by computerising records previously kept on paper files.
Mr Anderson said: ‘It is clear that there is no quick fix, and that the problem cannot be solved overnight, but the situation is starting to improve.
‘Waiting time management is complex, and certainly something the Department needs to, and is, getting better at. But the pressures upon the Department and its services continue to increase.
‘We have a growing population, generally we are living longer, and the field of health care continues to advance rapidly with new treatments and drugs.’
He added short term solutions like engaging temporary staff to clear a specific backlog were costly and failed to address the long-term problem.
‘It has been made quite clear that we must work within our budget – the days of going to Tynwald for a supplementary vote for funding are behind us,’ he said.
So far there has been a 20 per cent improvement in patient turn-over with waiting times falling in many areas.