Healthwatch England – Waiting Times – Datasets from Derby City

For one week during August 2021 and one week during October 2021, Healthwatch England and YouGov conducted a survey regarding waiting times for hospital treatment, and the feelings of those who had received or are waiting to receive hospital treatment around the service they were provided.

The full Healthwatch England report is available online on their website, but this report is a breakdown of responses from those who identified their nearest Healthwatch team to be within the Derby City area.

Healthwatch England received 2516 responses over the two weeks of surveys, and 16 of those respondents identified themselves as based within Derby City. 31% of 16 respondents stated that they had received hospital care within the last 18 months, and 69% of respondents stated that they were waiting for hospital care.

Highlights for Derby City:

• The majority of local respondents have been waiting between 5-12 months for treatment and the majority of the waits are for operations or consultations.

• The majority of local respondents did not feel that they received sufficient information around managing their condition whilst waiting for treatment, and those who did receive information did not feel it was sufficient to support them.

• There have been marked effects on those who have been waiting for treatment, notably around mental health and increased pain levels, and this has affected these people’s abilities to live their lives as they normally would.

• 50% of respondents stated that they couldn’t afford to pay for private treatment, however 75% would be happy to travel locally or nationally to an alternative hospital if this would reduce their waiting times.