Case submitted for new orthopaedic unit at South Yorkshire hospital to reduce nine week waiting list

Waiting lists for the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) NHS Foundation Trust are up 83 per cent since March 2020, according to a report from the trust.

In August 2022, 50,601 patients were on the trust’s waiting list – up from 27,509 when the pandemic begun in March 2020.

Of the patients on waiting lists, 1,382 have been waiting more than 52 weeks.

For Orthopaedics, the average waiting time for a first appointment stands at nine weeks.

The report states that the trust is “expanding its capacity to deal with backlogs,” but elective activity is “affected by pressures in emergency and urgent care services from COVID, delayed transfers of care and workforce pressures.”

To help clear the backlog and reduce waiting times, a business case on behalf of Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley NHS trusts is being submitted to secure funding for an elective orthopaedic centre at Montagu Hospital.

The hospital has been chosen as it is not affected by emergency pressures.

The report adds that having the centre at Montagu “will allow the development of a centre of excellence for elective orthopaedics as part of the plan to reduce waiting times locally.”

A further £9 million is being invested at Montagu Hospital in the coming months, to expand the site’s community diagnostic centre (CDC), which is awaiting approval from the The National CDC Programme.

The CDC will be housed in the rotunda, and the additional cash will expand diagnostic services, as well as increase staffing for the service.