Patients asked to travel 200 miles in push to cut elective waits

Devon Clinical Commissioning Group has secured extra capacity for patients requiring complex orthopaedic surgery under a new deal with the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre, located at Epsom General Hospital.

The NHS-run orthopaedic centre is around 170 miles from Exeter in east Devon and 210 miles from Plymouth in west Devon. Many patients have declined to go, despite the CCG offering to cover their travel costs.

It is the longest publicly reported distance patients are being sent for elective treatment in the NHS, with patients usually referred to neighbouring hospitals or integrated care systems if there is no capacity at their local provider.

Nearly 1,500 patients in the Devon ICS have waited longer than two years for treatment. The latest national data for England showed nearly 23,000 patients had been waiting longer than two years in January.

NHS England has imposed a target for all patients waiting more than two years for their treatment to receive it by July 2022, as part of its elective recovery plan, but trusts are struggling to ramp up capacity to achieve this.

Patient choice is also part of the challenge. A CCG spokeswoman told HSJ that 53 of 100 patients offered treatment in London had declined.

Four of the remaining 47 patients have since been treated locally. Twenty-five patients, all of whom have waited two years or more for their treatment, are waiting to be treated at SWLEOC by the end of June. The CCG is paying for the treatment at tariff prices.

Eligible patients were identified by each of the three acute trusts in the ICS and were selected based on the length of time they had waited and because their surgery is too complex to be carried out safely at an independent provider.

The CCG spokeswoman said: “Staff in Devon are working extremely hard to provide patients locally with the surgery they need.

“This arrangement is about stepping up capacity, so more people can get treated more quickly, but only if they want to take up the offer.”

The spokeswoman said the CCG has not commissioned elective capacity for a period of time with providers in any other ICS.

More orthopaedic and other elective capacity has also been opened at the ICSs retained Nightingale Hospital, which is being run by Royal Devon University Healthcare Foundation Trust.