Data on NHS waiting instances "riddled with errors"

The NAO’s report will deepen suspicion that some hospitals are fiddling waiting time data. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Hospitals are failing to properly record how extended a lot more than half of all individuals wait prior to obtaining planned treatment method, casting doubt on official NHS waiting time statistics, a report warned on Thursday.

There are errors in recording the wait experienced by one in four sufferers, and underestimation of waiting instances in practically as several circumstances, Whitehall’s spending watchdog discovered in an inquiry.

Data of waiting occasions are riddled with inconsistencies and errors, the National Audit Office stated in a report that will deepen suspicions that some hospitals are fiddling waiting time data in purchase to stay away from breaching the key target that 95% of sufferers have to be handled inside 18 weeks of being referred.

When the NAO audited the information of 650 orthopaedic patients who had been taken care of at seven hospital trusts in England, data had been complete and precise in only 281 (43%) of them. In 202 situations (31%), NAO inspectors could not find any documentation to prove that employees had appropriately recorded when the wait started, was paused or ended. And of the other 167 circumstances, every single featured at least 1 error.

In 145 of individuals 167 situations, employees under-recorded the wait concerned, such as 26 in which the information showed that the sufferers waited below 18 weeks when in reality they had waited longer than that.

The 145 situations involved an common underestimate of three weeks. In the other 22 situations, the wait was above-recorded by 75 days. Of people, data explained 11 had not been taken care of inside of 18 weeks, even however they had been.

Raising even more scepticism about published data for the NHS’s performance on the 18-week target, the NAO points out that the North West London Hospitals NHS Believe in failed to record the waiting time of two,700 (60%) of those getting planned inpatient treatment method. Similarly, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Believe in, also in north London, failed to keep track of the time to therapy knowledgeable by more than two,000 patients on its waiting record, of whom 651 (33%) had waited past 18 weeks.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust is being investigated by police over alterations made to patient appointment and medical data on its cancer waiting instances system after the Care Quality Commisison, the NHS care watchdog, found that therapy dates in at least 22 cases had been transformed.

Waiting occasions for remedy are creeping up as the NHS struggles to cope with increasing demand for care at the same time as it tends to make £20bn of financial savings, the NAO found.

The services is facing an “increasing challenge” in making sure that individuals in England get taken care of within 18 weeks of being referred by their GP.

Median waiting occasions under the Referral to Treatment (RTT) scheme have increased just lately, specifically for non-admitted sufferers. Between individuals sufferers, median waits, which cover the very first 50% of patients currently being handled, had been “markedly greater” in October 2013 than a year earlier.

Paul Smith, a senior investigation analyst at the Nuffield Trust wellness thinktank, said waiting instances for planned procedures had been rising for a 12 months. “With the fiscal squeeze on the NHS and developing demand for acute care, this is hardly surprising. Waiting occasions are a very good barometer of the general health of the NHS, and indicators that they are on the rise reflect the wider pressures on the program,” said Smith.

The NAO identified that the 18-week target has worked well considering that it was introduced by Labour in 2008 to tackle waiting lists and has typically been met by England’s 161 acute hospital trusts, with a “handful of exceptions”. Even so, a number of of its findings appear to cast doubt on repeated assurances by David Cameron and ministers that waiting times underneath the coalition have been lower and stable.

For instance, 58 (36%) of trusts failed to meet the 18-week target throughout at least a single month in 2012-13 for sufferers who had been admitted to hospital. Under the target 90% of them, and 95% of non-admitted individuals, are meant to start advisor-led treatment method within 18 weeks of referral, normally by a GP. Trusts that missed it did so for an average of four months, even though kept sufferers waiting for as long as eleven months. But the 58 was down from 81 trusts in 2011-12.

In addition, the two.94 million individuals who have been waiting for treatment final August was 11% larger than in August 2012.

A spokeswoman for Jeremy Hunt, the wellness secretary stated: “All round waiting occasions stay minimal and stable, with the number of patients waiting longer than 18, 26 and 52 weeks reduce than at any time under the last government.”

On the inadequacy of hospitals’ waiting time recording system, she additional: “It’s critical that reporting is always correct, and we will operate with the NHS to make certain hospital employees get the help they want to get this correct.”

Bill McCarthy, NHS England’s director of policy and strategy, acknowledged that “there are difficulties with information and these must be addressed. All elements of the NHS have their part to play in guaranteeing data is collected and recorded accurately such as trusts.”

Data on NHS waiting instances "riddled with errors"