Shropshire hospitals hit cancer care and waiting targets

More than 88 per cent of cancer patients are being referred for urgent treatment within the care target of 62 days, according to the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH).

And fewer than eight per cent of patients are waiting longer than 18 weeks between seeing their GP and getting hospital treatment after a referral, the first time the hospital has met the target since May 2016.

It is also looking at new systems, which mean patients could be discharged from hospital by a healthcare professional, rather than a doctor, as well as steps that mean patients can be discharged at the weekend.

Debbie Kadum, chief operating officer at the trust, said: "At SaTH we often refer to ourselves as being on a journey of improvement, and I am delighted to say that this has been really noticeable in recent weeks."

At the end of September, the trust hit the 92 per cent referral to treatment (RTT) target and has repeated it in October.

Ms Kadum addedL "Tackling this issue has been one of our top priorities as it means less than 8 per cent of patients are waiting longer than 18 weeks between seeing their GP and having treatment at hospital.

"We had an improvement trajectory which demonstrated delivery of the RTT standard from September, which we achieved. We did this by weekly patient tracking meetings with each of the specialty teams, and improved administration and patient processes.

"To achieve a 93.1 per cent performance in September and 93.9 per cent in October is a great milestone for our patients and marks a fantastic achievement for our staff."

The trust's Cancer Care targets was also met in both September and October.

Ms Kadum said: "I am also pleased to say that SaTH has been shown to be one of the best in the region when it comes to the length of time patients are spending in hospital—which is great news as it is an ambition of ours to ensure patients spend the shortest time in hospital possible before being safely discharged.

"An independent assessment by NHS Improvement shows SaTH is the third best acute Trust in the Midlands and East of England for emergency (unplanned) and fourth best for elective (planned) care between April and June 2017.

"It showed that the average length of stay in hospital following elective treatment was 3.4 days, with the average length of stay following emergency care 6.6 days.

"SaTH is also performing well nationally, and is in the top 25 per cent when it comes to the length of time that patients are spending in our care.

"These figures are really pleasing and are testament to the hard work of our staff. However, while our current length of stay is good, our ambition is to be the best of the 39 large acute trusts in the country. To do that, it would mean patients staying one day less in our hospitals than they currently are.

"We are also reducing delays in patient treatment planning by focusing on a number of wards at PRH and RSH to ensure patients are seen by a senior decision-making doctor as quickly as possible, that delays in progressing patient care are removed and at 4pm each day all actions to enable a patient to be discharged the next day are completed.

"We are also developing criteria-led discharge whereby patients can be discharged by a healthcare professional rather than just a doctor. We are also reviewing the resources we need at weekends to ensure patients that are ready to be discharged over a weekend are able to go."