RJAH responding to operational challenges

Leaders at the Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital have today moved to reassure patients facing longer waits for treatment as a result of operational challenges.

The issue was debated at today’s meeting of the Board of The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH).

A paper presented to that meeting outlined work that has already taken place to tackle historical Referral To Treatment (RTT) performance issues at the Trust. This work has identified further challenges to ensuring patients do not have to wait excessively for treatment.

National standards stipulate that English patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from the point of referral to final treatment, and adjusted figures presented to the RJAH Board today highlighted that a further 286 patients are in breach of that target. Trust chiefs are already putting a plan in place to tackle the problem that puts patients first.

John Grinnell, Acting Chief Executive at RJAH, said: “Patient care is, and always will be, our No. 1 priority – but we recognise that elements of our processes that support the delivery of access targets have not been good enough and that is something we have to put right.

“We have got work to do but we are making sure that we put patients first and are moving forward with a robust recovery plan.

“We are working closely with our regulators and partners in the local health community to deliver a plan that has patients at the heart of it. We don’t want any patient to be facing unnecessarily long waits and our recovery plan will have clinical priority as its main driver.”

The Trust has already made changes to its procedures as part of the solution to the problem, and continues to strengthen its operational team – including the appointment of a new Director of Operations who will start in post in the New Year.

“At our Board meeting today we have approved a revised Patient Access Policy,” Mr Grinnell added.

“That – together with the wider recovery plan that our Interim Director of Operations Steve Vaughan outlined - will play a big part in helping us deliver the level of performance that our patients and community should rightly expect.

“Our new Director of Operations, Kim Barrow, joins us on January 1 and will be instrumental in driving forward the work we have done up to now. Kim is also spending several days within the organisation between now and Christmas and is assisting us with reviewing our operational structure.

“We know we have to get this right – and do so in a sustainable way – but it is also important to keep sight of the fact that our staff continue to do a wonderful job in delivering outstanding patient care and achieving some of the best clinical outcomes in the country.”