RJAH staff thanked for helping cut national elective surgery waiting list

Leaders at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) have paid tribute to staff – as national data is published which illustrates the huge progress made in reducing waiting times for life-changing surgery.

The Government set a national target for 65 per cent of patients to be seen within 18 weeks for elective treatment (planned surgery) by March this year – though Trusts starting from a lower benchmark were given an adjusted target. For RJAH, which was achieving around 46% a year ago, its prescribed target was 60%.

The latest figures, released this week on the national Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Dashboard, confirm that the NHS has delivered on its goal.

At RJAH specifically, the Trust exceeded its target, achieving 62.15% by the end of March 2026. That increase of more than 16% was the fourth biggest in percentage terms out of all hospital Trusts in the country over the 12-month period. In fact, the Trust’s performance had deteriorated by May 2025 – a period when it was introducing a new electronic patient record – to around 44.5%, so the improvement of 17.66% in the 10 months was all the more impressive, and was down to a focussed team effort across the hospital.

Progress on the waiting list comes on the back of a year where the NHS performed the highest number of surgeries, tests, checks and elective appointments.

Stacey Keegan, Chief Executive at RJAH, said: “It is a huge effort by everyone across the Trust to get us to this position, and it has been achieved against a backdrop of another busy year, including the launch of our new electronic patient record.

“The improvements we are making correlate directly with waiting lists going down, and we will not stop here. Over the next year, there is so much more to come – including further productivity improvements, service transformation, and the opening of an additional operating theatre in the summer which will give us the capacity to increase activity levels still further.

“Everything we are doing is with the aim of offering patients the best possible care in terms of access, outcomes and experience.”

Dr Jess Sokolov, Regional Medical Director for NHSE in the Midlands, said: “Staff working across the NHS have pulled out all the stops to help people who have often been waiting too long for life-changing surgery.

“Delays to planned procedures have a massive human cost in terms of the growing loss of independence or risk of accidents as a patient’s health deteriorates. That’s why we want more people to be seen within the 18-week time frame and return to their best health as soon as possible.”

Dr Sokolov emphasised that local providers have each played a part in the national effort to deliver the 65% 18 week-wait target, while maintaining a range of other clinical standards, and should be proud of their contribution.

“I want to thank everyone working in local health services for their commitment to improving standards while carrying out more tests, checks and elective appointments than any other year.”