Shropshire's orthopaedic hospital comes bottom of treatment waiting list ranking

Data provided by NHS England on Thursday (July 10) showed that during May only 44.5 per cent of patients had started treatment within 18 weeks at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) in Gobowen, near Oswestry.

It meant that the specialist hospital came bottom out of 134 NHS trusts that were ranked. And it didn’t score much better for the perentage of patients waiting more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, coming in 133rd.

The trust did though score wellfor the proportion of patients waiting six weeks or more for diagnostic tests, coming in 39th.

A RJAH spokesperson said: “We are committed to treating our patients in as timely a fashion as possible.

“Over the course of 2024 a number of factors combined which impacted significantly on our operational capacity. We have worked with our consultant body, with NHS England and the national Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) team to maximise capacity, and this work will drive improvement in the coming weeks and months.

“We have a clear ambition to hit the national target of 60 per cent by March 2026, and are confident that the plans we have put in place will enable us to do so.”

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), meanwhile, came 124th with 53 per cent. However, that is a better performance than in January when SaTH’s figure was 48.2 per cent. The Government’s target though is 92 per cent.

Across the country, waiting lists fell in May for the first time in 17 years. The NHS data shows that it dropped by nearly 30,000 to 7.36 million – the lowest total since March 2023 – with 60.9 per cent waiting 18 weeks or less for planned care.

Overall, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, based in Cheshire and Merseyside, topped the list with 97.4 per cent, followed by the Christie trust in Manchester (95 per cent) and the Royal Marsden in London (94 per cent).

Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s co-national medical director (secondary care), said: “Across the NHS, our staff are showing their determination to improve access to services and bring down waits for treatment, whether it’s more evening and weekend appointments or people getting tested and checked closer to home at community diagnostic centres.

“This continued recovery has been a national effort across the health service and it would – of course – be hugely disappointing if this progress were to stall this summer due to industrial action.

“We are still seeing huge demand across NHS services, with a record June for A&E attendances and rising demand for ambulances, but despite this, patients are being seen quicker. With another heatwave, I would urge the public to take care and follow advice for keeping safe during hot weather.”