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Waiting hours are on the rise

Kathryn Ryan
20/ 3/2008

THE amount of time patients spend waiting for hospital treatment has gone up by 50 per cent in Salford over the last 10 years.

Figures from the Department of Health show that in 1997 patients waited 28 days between diagnosis and admission to the ward.

In 2007 the wait had gone up to 42 days.

Vice chair of the council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Janice Heywood, labelled the statistics ‘appalling’.

Cllr Heywood said: "If that is the case then it is appalling, we’ve just gone to foundation status and that’s supposed to improve patient access to care.

"We’ve got the poorest health in Salford in the country.

"The health statistics for Weaste are appalling - people die younger and have more complications in pregnancy here.

"We have the highest figures in all the bad statistics. I find these figures very worrying especially when told Salford Royal is the best hospital in the country for various specialities.

"We just hope the regional speciality isn’t taking any emphasis from the care for local people."

A spokesperson for Salford Royal Hospital said: "Over recent years, Salford Royal can categorically state that waiting times have significantly reduced.

"It is unable to compare the figures now with 10 years ago but strongly believes that waiting times are far shorter."

The statistics revealed that waiting times had gone up in nine out of 10 Greater Manchester districts and had only gone down in Ashton, Leigh and Wigan.