Elective Surgery Waiting List Disparities

40 items 1 source

Disparities in elective surgery waiting lists, particularly affecting women, and the lack of financial support for patients to travel.

Cross-Source Insight

Elective Surgery Waiting List Disparities has been flagged across 1 independent accountability source:

40 PFD reports

This theme has been identified in one data source. As more data is added, cross-references may emerge.

Geoffrey Gudgeon
16 Feb 2026 · Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly
Concerns: There is a significant capacity issue in Cornwall concerning the timely admission and treatment of stroke patients, leading to delays in accessing stroke units.
Response: The Trust has implemented a Stroke Bed Escalation Plan, increased Stroke Consultant availability, and rapid data reviews, which have led to improved admission times and inpatient stay percentages for stroke …
Responded
Michael Moore
11 Sep 2025 · Norfolk
Concerns: Persistent NHS capacity constraints are causing significant and increasing delays in cancer referrals, diagnosis, and treatment, risking patient outcomes.
Responded
Thomas Oldcorn
05 Jun 2025 · Cumbria
Concerns: Inadequate resources have led to significantly prolonged waiting times for cardiac surgery after angiography, consistently exceeding national targets and increasing to 17 days.
Responded
Carla Smith
29 Jan 2025 · Norfolk
Concerns: Excessively long hospital waiting lists for urgent and routine referrals, coupled with a lack of patient monitoring, risk significant deterioration and loss of treatment options.
Responded
Karen Dack
10 Dec 2024 · Leicester City and South Leicestershire
Concerns: Repeated last-minute surgery cancellations are occurring due to insufficient theatre capacity. Despite prioritization reviews, a lack of theatre expansion means this systemic issue risks future deaths.
Responded
Junior Powell
02 Dec 2024 · Inner West London
Concerns: Significant hospital delays in patient review and admission, caused by staff shortages and social care discharge bottlenecks, led to a critical delay in definitive treatment for an aortic dissection, contributing to the patient's death.
Overdue
Sara Grinnell
17 Sep 2024 · South Wales Central
Concerns: Extensive and repeated delays in urgent gynaecology appointments, relying only on written correspondence, resulted in a significant 24-month diagnostic delay. There were missed opportunities to escalate urgency upon re-referral.
Responded
David Curry
25 Jul 2024 · Norfolk
Concerns: A critical surgery for an obstructed kidney was delayed by five months due to lack of NHS theatre capacity, increasing the patient's sepsis risk, leading to the patient seeking private care and subsequently dying from sepsis.
Responded
Noura Hardy
18 Jul 2024 · West Sussex, Brighton & Hove
Concerns: Excessively long national waiting lists for heart treatment, particularly for patients with weakened heart muscles due to long-term steroid use, pose a fatal risk despite local improvements.
Responded
Lorraine Procter
17 Jul 2024 · South Manchester
Concerns: Significant national backlogs for cardiology appointments cause patients to wait over 40 weeks, delaying specialist input and increasing the risk of complications and death.
Responded
James Cockburn
02 Jul 2024 · Manchester South
Concerns: National delays in cardiac appointments and diagnostic tests, exacerbated by staff shortages and incompatible inter-Trust IT systems, caused critical delays in treatment and assessment for life-saving surgery.
Responded
Elizabeth Brown
12 Mar 2024 · Manchester South
Concerns: Significant national shortages of qualified immunology staff lead to prolonged patient waiting times and treatment delays, posing risks to patient health.
Responded
Gregor Lynn
20 Dec 2023 · Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Concerns: A cost barrier in private healthcare discourages patients from crucial histological analysis of lesions, unlike NHS treatment where it's included, risking delayed cancer detection for those not meeting NHS referral criteria.
Responded
Jasbir Pahal
08 Dec 2023 · West Yorkshire (Eastern)
Concerns: The hyper-acute stroke unit offers a thrombectomy service for only 20.8% of the week, denying patients crucial time-sensitive treatment based on their home address and time of stroke.
Overdue
Anthony Williams
01 Dec 2023 · Manchester South
Concerns: National shortages of specialist scanning facilities and delays in the two-week cancer pathway lead to delayed diagnoses and treatments, resulting in poorer patient outcomes and advanced disease.
Responded
Kathleen Booth
22 Nov 2023 · Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent
Concerns: A significant delay in critical surgery was caused by NHS-wide understaffing, underfunding, and limited weekend cover, disadvantaging patients with injuries sustained on Fridays.
Responded
Holly Mullan
17 Oct 2023 · Manchester South
Concerns: Significant and prolonged NHS waiting times for gastroenterology and gynaecology referrals post-Covid are causing distress, delaying diagnoses, and impeding crucial treatment for patients with severe conditions.
Responded
Douglas Nickols
29 Sep 2023 · Surrey
Concerns: The hospital consistently fails to meet NICE guidelines for hip fracture surgery within the recommended timeframe, delaying early mobilisation and increasing patients' risk of complications like pneumonia.
Overdue
Ellen MacFarlane
04 Nov 2022 · Manchester South
Concerns: Critical ambulance delays are common due to high demand and staffing shortages. Additionally, weekend availability of cardiac tests at district general hospitals delays urgent surgery, contradicting best practice.
Responded
Maureen Harrop
14 Sep 2022 · Manchester South
Concerns: Prolonged waits in the Emergency Department due to bed shortages and delays in essential surgery due to theatre capacity severely impacted the patient's physiological reserves and overall outcome.
Responded
Irene Davies
14 Sep 2022 · Manchester South
Concerns: Extended surgery wait times due to COVID backlogs and severe ambulance availability issues led to significant delays in critical care, causing distress and impacting patient outcomes.
Responded
Violet Howard
02 Sep 2022 · Manchester North
Concerns: There is a critical gap in dermatology commissioning for Royal Oldham Hospital inpatients, excluding those from outside the local area unless their skin condition becomes an emergency.
Responded
Margaret Warwick
04 Aug 2022 · Manchester South
Concerns: Significant delays in a hip fracture patient's care were caused by a shortage of cardiologists, particularly during weekends, and further compounded by theatre capacity and High Dependency Unit bed shortages.
Overdue
James Curry
04 Aug 2022 · Manchester South
Concerns: Persistent bed shortages caused elderly hip fracture patients to endure lengthy Emergency Department waits, hindering timely orthogeriatric care and preventing surgery within NICE guideline timescales. This impacts patient outcomes and mortality.
Responded
Kellum Thomas
03 Aug 2022 · Nottinghamshire and Nottingham
Concerns: The patient lacked a cardiac monitoring device for 18 months due to a poor system for identifying battery end-of-life and excessively long replacement waiting lists. Additionally, crucial outpatient letters were significantly delayed.
Overdue
Brian Murphy
02 Oct 2020 · Greater Manchester South
Concerns: Systemic delays in scheduling cardiology tests and subsequent patient referrals to specialists caused significant backlogs, hindering timely diagnosis and treatment.
Responded
Shirley Nightingale
16 Dec 2019 · Manchester (South)
Concerns: No clear system existed for escalating or prioritizing urgent OGD procedures when capacity was an issue. Additionally, deviations from best practice timescales lacked documented rationale or senior clinician approval.
Overdue
Derek Weaver
15 Oct 2019 · London Inner (South)
Concerns: Capacity limitations due to a surge in referrals delayed critical surgery, leading to a higher chance of death due to sepsis. Insufficient resources and beds risk future preventable deaths.
Responded
Charles Williamson
30 Sep 2019 · Manchester (South)
Concerns: A shortage of appropriate neuro-rehabilitation beds in Greater Manchester is preventing early effective rehabilitation, increasing the risk of complications and death.
Responded
Thomas Curtin
14 Mar 2018 · Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
Concerns: Private mental health locked rehabilitation units lack a national framework for referral response times, potentially leaving patients on inappropriate wards and risking their safety.
Responded
Kristina Cross
02 Jan 2018 · Lancashire & Blackburn with Darwen
Concerns: Delayed surgical fixation of a traumatically fractured femur, caused by initial and subsequent misdiagnoses, led to post-operative complications and significantly contributed to the patient's death.
Overdue
Terrence George
03 Oct 2017 · Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
Concerns: Most Trusts lacked local guidance for timely gallstone surgery post-pancreatitis despite international recommendations. Management did not prioritise this, indicating a need for national guidelines to ensure consistent, timely treatment.
Overdue
Patricia Donovan
22 Mar 2017 · South Wales Central
Concerns: Surgery for a neck of femur fracture was delayed beyond NICE guidelines due to theatre staff and resource availability issues, despite the recognised risk of serious complications from prolonged waiting.
Overdue
Sarah Tyler
13 Jan 2017 · North Wales (East and Central)
Concerns: Pervasive hospital admission delays due to insufficient beds were exacerbated by increased 'bed blocking' on weekends, stemming from reduced patient discharges. This systemic issue poses a significant risk to timely patient care.
Responded
Marina Fagan
22 Apr 2016 · London Inner North
Concerns: A nationwide shortage of neurologists leads to significant delays in accessing specialist care, including long outpatient waiting times and lack of out-of-hours neurological expertise in some hospitals.
Responded
Sandra Wood
12 Feb 2016 · North West Kent
Concerns: The NHS Trust's lack of routine weekend CT scan facilities led to a critical delay in an urgent scan, proving too late for the patient.
Responded
Marilyn Anson
12 Feb 2016 · Avon
Concerns: Delays in urgent 'hot foot' clinic referrals, coupled with inadequate patient prioritisation and resource allocation, led to patient deterioration and death.
Overdue
David Mostari
05 Feb 2016 · Bedfordshire and Luton
Concerns: Urgent diagnostic tests were critically delayed over a weekend due to the hospital lacking a robust system for ensuring timely imaging, particularly for patients admitted outside of weekdays.
Responded
Leslie Summerfield
20 Jan 2016 · Manchester (South)
Concerns: The withdrawal of urgent endoscopy services at a hospital, despite available resources, forces critically ill patients to be transported, causing unnecessary discomfort and potentially aggravating their conditions.
Overdue
Ronald Perry
02 Jul 2014 · North Wales (East & Central)
Concerns: Inconsistent criteria for requesting CT scans based on time of day or weekend leads to varying levels of care and risks missed diagnoses for patients 'out of hours'.
Responded