Barts Health makes great progress in reducing its cancer backlog

Latest figures from NHS England and Improvement show that Barts Health has been reducing the backlog for treatment for urgent suspected cancer patients who have been waiting more than 62 days.

In the previous four weeks up until the 02 July, Barts Health reduced the 62-day waiting list by 105 patients, down to a total of 348. Overall, patients waiting more than 62-days represents just 9.3% of all patients, compared to 12.4% a month ago.

Mark Warren, Group Director for Cancer and Diagnostics at Barts Health, explains how they have achieved this reduction in the backlog. “We carried out a clinical review of all patients who have been waiting more than 62 days, which involved meeting with the Clinical Director, Chief Operating Officer, Group Director, Executive Management teams at the hospitals and the Clinical, Divisional and General Managers.

“The increased focus on these patients has led to a number of improvement measures, including making more use of the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre for earlier endoscopy access, looking at standard work and escalation, working more effectively with histopathology, timely access to diagnostics and reducing the number of patients who do not attend appointments.

“We would like to also thank patients for their support during this period. It is particularly important for patients to make sure they are available for their appointment and to let us know as soon as possible if they are unable to attend, so we can rearrange it for them and offer their appointment slot to someone else.”

The team at Barts Health initially carried out this work for urology and colorectal, and there will be further reviews this month for gynae and head and neck cancers. Alongside this, Mark has also been sending weekly emails to the Chief Operating Officers at each hospital with details of the backlog situation and the North East London Cancer Alliance has provided an additional resource to support the reduction.

Rebecca Carlton, Group Chief Operating Officer for Barts Health, says “Reducing the cancer backlog is a top priority for Barts Health and we have been working hard to make a difference. We are pleased to report that the hard work of the clinical teams and operational managers is paying off, and reflected in the latest figures.

“We are aiming for compliance against the two week wait standard for July, which will also help us improve our performance against the Faster Diagnosis Standard, where the target is that you should not wait more than 28 days from referral to finding out whether you have cancer or not.”