Select a region
1,443 people are currently awaiting elective surgery, after lockdown created a backlog of patients which keeps on growing as more people are referred on by their GP.
Although HSC has managed to restore theatre activity to pre-pandemic levels, the surgical teams are still facing pressure after losing 13 weeks of elective operations earlier this year.
"Following exit from lockdown, and in line with ensuring guidance and directives to safeguard patients and staff were followed at all times, HSC restored services across acute, adult, children's and mental health services extremely quickly," a spokesperson for the committee said.
"In respect of elective activity, a dedicated team has met each month to drive recovery in this area including Drs Peter Rabey and Gary Yarwood. The initial focus of this work has been to build theatre throughput back up to pre-pandemic levels as quickly as possible, and that target was achieved by the end of September following a huge effort by all staff and partners across HSC and MSG."
In January, before covid-19 hit Guernsey, HSC was carrying out about 750 theatre procedures each month. That number dropped significantly during lockdown but was able to build again throughout August and September, and was eventually restored last month.
Pictured: Dr Gary Yarwood and Dr Peter Rabey have been part of a dedicated team working to increase the volume of elective surgery in recent months.
By July, 1,400 patients were waiting for elective procedures, 600 of whom were on the list for orthopaedic intervention.
Since then, patients have been able to return for regular appointments with their GP and more people have been referred for surgery.
Of the 1,443 people currently waiting for operations, 640 are awaiting orthopaedic treatment, which continues to have the longest waiting time.
"HSC and MSG will continue to maximise all available theatre capacity and work hard to deliver as many operations as possible," HSC said. "MSG staff will continue to explain the situation to patients awaiting surgery as it stands across the different specialisms.
"There is no current ability for HSC to commission work from mainland providers including the NHS who are suffering extremely long periods of disruption from the ongoing pandemic and thus have their own considerable issues as regards surgical backlog. Even if such capacity were available, the mainland has ongoing issues with restrictions in place as a result of the pandemic which in turn severely restricts the ability to arrange travel and the overall safety of patients more generally.
"HSC and MSG recognise the upset and frustration that waiting for an operation can cause and asks for further understanding from the public at this unprecedented time. All staff are working to full capacity on island to support patients but it will take a significant period of time to work through the disruption the pandemic has created."
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.