Patients sent outside of county for treatment

By [gstamford]

More than a third of Lincolnshire patients needing knee and hip operations are sent outside the county for treatment.

This results in 3,876 county patients a year travelling to hospitals in towns and cities including Peterborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Nottingham for routine operations.

But the bulk of these county orthopedic patients are treated at Barlborough NHS Treatment Centre in Derbyshire.

The private centre is contracted by the NHS to help out with its long waiting list of orthopedic patients.

And it sees more patients from Lincolnshire than it does from any other county in the East Midlands, including Derbyshire.

But despite the huge helping hand, Lincolnshire is still not meeting the Government's 18-week GP referral to treatment time for orthopedics.

The latest figures published by NHS Lincolnshire reveal that only 84.2 per cent of orthopedic patients in August were treated within 18-weeks, missing the Government's 90 per cent target by a long way.

Sarah Newton, director of performance at NHS Lincolnshire, said it does not cost the trust any more to treat a patient at a private clinic than it does at an NHS hospital.

Mrs Newton said the Choose and Book system means patients are free to be treated a clinic of their choice.

She said. "NHS Lincolnshire is working closely with United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust to help deliver the 18-week treatment standard.

"A lot of work has been done, and continues, to increase local capacity, including the appointment of additional orthopaedic surgeons and the planned opening of three new wards."

Peter Taylor, 72, had a routine knee operation at Barlborough NHS Treatment Centre near Chesterfield two years ago, which relieved the pain he had suffered for some time.

The retired coach driver from Torksey, near Gainsborough, said: "I just got a phone call from the NHS saying I could have the operation on my knee at Barlborough.

"I didn't mind travelling as I just wanted to get it done because I was in so much pain."