Less than half of referrals from Stockport FT to The Christie hit waiting target

Just 46.2 per cent of Christie patients referred by Stockport between July and September were treated within the time limit, against a national average of 69.6 per cent for inter-provider transfers (IPTs). The national standard for performance against the 62 day standard is 85 per cent.

National cancer director Professor Richards produced the report on waiting times performance in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cancer Network in response to concerns raised by The Christie, which said it was receiving referred patients too late to hit the target.

He found a wide variation among providers in the proportion of referrals to The Christie treated within the 62 day window. For four providers, in the second quarter of 2010-11, performance was above average for IPTs. For one, Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, it was close to the national average, and for six it was significantly below.

Stockport referred 39 patients to the cancer specialist in that period, and 46.2 per cent of them were treated within the timeframe. That was the fourth-lowest proportion in the cancer network.

Professor Richards’ report said it was “difficult to give a definitive verdict” on the reason for poor performance within the network, in particular because “no information is held centrally on the day/date of onward referral from a secondary to tertiary provider”.

On 28 January he proposed a risk sharing deal to providers in the network, which would see The Christie take responsibility only for those patients referred before the 38^th day from first referral.