We are delighted to announce that our work to dramatically reduce waiting lists for treatment has been shortlisted in the Performance Recovery category at the HSJ Awards.
The shortlisting recognises an outstanding contribution to healthcare and secures a place at the prestigious awards ceremony later this year.
A total of 1,456 entries were received for this year’s Awards, with 223 projects and individuals reaching the final shortlist.
After the pandemic, we managed to turn one of the longest waiting list backlogs in the country to one of the shortest - and in record-breaking time.
In April last year, CHFT had 509 patients waiting for more than 78 weeks. That number is now down to zero*.
Tim Briggs CBE, National Director for Clinical Improvement and Elective Recovery for NHS England, hailed the efforts as “phenomenal” in a visit to the Trust earlier this year.
As covered in last week's issue, we were also recently named as the only Trust in the country to be delivering all four key cancer targets - 8-day wait from urgent referral to patient told they have cancer or given all-clear; 2-month wait from GP urgent referral to first treatment; 1-month wait from decision to treat to first treatment; two-week wait from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment.
Director of Operations for Surgery, Thomas Strickland, said: “We know that waiting for treatment can be an anxious time, and we’re so pleased that we’ve been able to make a real difference so that our patients receive the right care, at the right time, without unnecessary delays.
“This fantastic achievement is thanks to the joint efforts of several CHFT teams, including schedulers, medical secretaries, validators, operational managers, general managers and of course pre-op assessment and all on the clinical frontline.
“It’s a testament to the hard work of our colleagues, combining innovation and genuine multi-disciplinary team working across the Trust.
“Our efforts were a dramatic response in response to a unique situation – and we saw a radical turnaround. We are looking forward to presenting to the judging panel in October, and have our fingers crossed for even better news at the Awards night.”
HSJ Editor, Alastair McLellan, adds; “It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge CHFT for being shortlisted in the category of Performance Recovery.
“It’s been so encouraging to hear that 2023 has been record-breaking in terms of the number of applicants and, as ever, the calibre of entries left our panel of expert judges with some tough decisions to deliberate over.
“However, it’s always important to remember that the HSJ Awards are not just a celebration of success stories but also a platform to shape the future of the NHS.
“We can’t wait to welcome our finalists to the awards ceremony in November and to recognise and applaud such impressive achievements across the sector – as well as coming together to help mark the 75th birthday of our great NHS.”
The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution London on November 16th, 2023.
*In April 2022 there were 2500 patients waiting over 52 weeks, this is now down to less than 10 and the Trust is on track to have no patients waiting over 40 weeks by March.
