Worth the wait

The latest HSJ Barometer survey suggests trusts are still confident they will pass the waiting-time milestones, says Alastair McLellan

HSJ's third Barometer survey was carried out in the last week of February, just over a month before the NHS was due to reach its latest milestone on the journey to the 2005 targets.

This year, there appears to be considerable confidence that waiting-time milestones will be passed. However, trusts still appear to be running very hot.

Although concerns about achieving financial targets have eased over the last three months, a significant number of trusts are concerned they will not be able to reach their planned financial position in the few remaining weeks of the year.

What of the future? Well, confidence in hitting the 2005 sixmonth inpatient target has remained relatively steady over the three months the HSJ Barometer has been recording progress, although the percentage of trusts feeling 'very confident' is the lowest yet recorded.

Confidence around the 13-week outpatient target had been trailing the inpatient indicator, but this month there appears to have been a big jump in positivity, with nearly half of all trusts declaring they are very confident about the target.

On average, elective activity is still running significantly above last year. However, the number of trusts reporting they are busier than in 2003 is the lowest yet recorded, suggesting that maintained productivity growth is becoming harder.

Emergency care is perhaps the biggest concern in acute care at present. Since its inception, the HSJ Barometer has consistently reported that trusts have bettered last year's performance. The February figure again shows the great majority of trusts have raised their game.