THE number of patients waiting for certain procedures and consultations has risen at the trust which runs Basingstoke hospital, a freedom of information request (FOI) has revealed. 

A recent FOI request has revealed that there has been a slight increase in those waiting for a cataract procedure or a physiotherapy consultation at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), which runs Basingstoke, Andover and Winchester hospitals.

As of March this year 1,176 patients were waiting to have their cataract surgery compared to 1,095 the same time last year.

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There are also more patients waiting for a physiotherapy consultation, with 389 people waiting to be seen in March this year, while there were only 247 waiting last year.

The figures come after thousands of patients had to wait longer than four hours in A&E last month.

The latest Emergency Department performance figures published by NHS England for July show that there was a total of 12,101 attendances to A&E HHFT.

Of these, 7,322 were seen within the target of four hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged. However, 4,779 had to wait longer than four hours, and seven patients waited longer than 12 hours.

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A spokesperson from HHFT said: “At Hampshire Hospitals we are continuing to do all that we possibly can in order to reduce wait times across our services.

“We recognise that Covid-19 and operational pressures are still having an impact on waiting lists, whilst we have seen an increase in new referrals in recent months due to patients delaying coming to hospital for non-life-threatening conditions as a result of the pandemic. However we remain committed to finding ways to deal with this increased demand and have delivered the government’s target of eliminating the very longest waiting patients.

“We have taken a number of steps to achieve this, including investing in new equipment, increasing capacity and delivering additional sessions and clinics, and working closely with our partners in the independent sector.”

The number of people still waiting for hip and knee replacement procedures has seen a slight improvement. Last year 626 people were waiting for their replacement, but this has since decreased to 443 as of March this year.