Waits for some appointments and surgery at Nottingham hospitals could grow longer if pressures do not ease on the NHS, a boss has warned. Anthony May, who leads Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), which runs Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and City Hospital, said projections indicate that waiting lists may grow again during winter if elective activity remains at reduced levels.
NUH and the wider Nottinghamshire healthcare system declared a critical incident earlier this winter. In documents released ahead of an NUH board meeting this week, Mr May said winter pressures are "significantly impacting on our ability to undertake elective activity which is currently at much reduced levels".
He said while the trust's elective programme had made progress, waits for elective care could become longer. "We continue to treat as many elective patients as possible within available resource, with strong focus on those with highest clinical need and patients experiencing very long waits (over 104-weeks), which reduced at the end of December to just six," he said.
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"However, projections indicate that waiting lists may grow again during winter, including in the 78-week wait patient cohort, if elective activity is remains at reduced levels." Mr May said QMC's emergency department was still facing overcrowding, explaining it is a symptom of flow constraints.
He said they had caused difficulties in delivering timely ambulance handover. "We continue to adopt the principle of accepting ambulance handovers despite the department being crowded to release ambulance crews as promptly as we can and continue to work closely with our partners at EMAS," he said.
Mr May said there had been a "significant" increase in flu, jumping from just five patients in the middle of November to a peak of 137 patients at the end of December. "Since the start of November, there have been circa 100 patients in hospital with Covid-19 (significantly lower than October and similar to levels observed at the same time in 2021)," he said.
"The majority of the Covid-19 pressures are being caused by patients in hospital with Covid-19, rather than in hospital due to Covid-19."
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