Commenting on the latest monthly NHS performance
statistics, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research, Sarah
Scobie said:
“Today's statistics are a stark reminder that despite the
continued hard work of staff, the NHS is still struggling to keep
up with demand. However, there is some positive news for access
to cancer care, as in July the proportion of patients being
treated within 31 days of a decision to treat was the highest in
three years.
“The NHS planned treatment waiting list rose again in July, to
over 7.4 million, but we know that the overall number can only
show a partial picture. Our analysis has revealed that
thousands of cases are removed from this list each month for
reasons including administrative exercises like data cleaning.
There is a lack of transparency around the different reasons why
people might be coming off the list which undermines how useful
it is as a measure of progress.
“Meanwhile, the government wants to make it easier for patients
to see how services are performing through the new trust league
tables published this week. However, in their current form the
tables are limited in how they help us to understand how good the
care is at local hospitals, and some measures patients would find
important are missing from the calculations, including outcomes
of operations. If patients are to take control of their own care,
there needs to be better access to the information that really
matters.”
