Hundreds of patients waiting more than a year for treatment as Mid Yorkshire hospitals fight non-Covid backlog
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A total of 350 people waiting to be seen by the Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust passed 52 weeks without the necessary appointment in July.
The trust, which runs Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury Hospitals, said it was treating the most urgent cases first, but warned the figures are likely to "get worse before they get better".
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Hide AdHospitals across the UK are facing the same problem, having prioritised battling coronavirus for most of 2020.
Speaking at a meeting of the trust board on Thursday, Mid Yorkshire's chief executive Martin Barkley said: "We are doing non-COVID work in order of clinical priority and chronological priority.
"I was on a call yesterday and the number of 52 week breaches both regionally and nationally is absolutely increasing very sharply.
"But the numbers are likely to increase before they start to decrease."
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Hide AdThe trust's director of operations, Trudie Davies, said hospital bosses had been given permission to buy extra capacity from the private healthcare sector in a bid to address the problem.
She said that capacity in one area had been "an issue pre-Covid".
She added: "There's no way it wasn't going to be an issue post-Covid. It might get worse before it gets better, but there are recovery plans in place."
Since 2013, local NHS bosses have been fined £2,500 for every patient who waits longer than 52 weeks to be seen.
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Hide AdHowever, in April this year the government suspended those charges in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting was also told that the trust is currently treating six patients for coronavirus at Pinderfields, one of whom is in intensive care.
Hospital admissions for Covid have fallen, but Mr Barkley said the increase in confirmed cases in the community was "deeply, deeply concerning". There is concern across the health service about how well equipped hospitals may be for a second wave of Covid, especially with seasonal flu bugs expected to re-emerge soon.
Asked for assurances that the trust will be able to maintain certain standards during the winter, Mr Barkley said: "The realistic answer is that everyone will do their best.
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Hide Ad"It's very hard to predict what it's going to be like this autumn and winter.
"A lot will depend on the next two to three weeks and the impact of the government's announcement yesterday (Wednesday) and the restrictions to slow down the infection."
The chief executive also said he was keen to protect hospital staff from being overworked and insisted he'd prioritise this ahead of meeting government targets around non-emergency treatment.
He added: "While the driving force is our collective desire to reduce waiting times for patients, this can't be done at the expense of the health and wellbeing of our staff.
"If our staff fall ill they won't be in a fit state to look after patients.
"There's a balance to be struck between what is being asked and what is possible."
Local Democracy Reporting Service
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