Trust appoints ‘turnaround director’ after performance plummets

Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust’s 62-day referral-to-treatment performance dropped to 45 per cent in the final quarter of 2021/22, against the national standard of 85 per cent, according to the latest data.

The trust noted in its latest board papers that its plan to cut its 62-day backlog to 310 by March 2022 would have to be pushed back by a year – with 708 patients still waiting for treatment as of 24 April.

MSE’s cancer performance is below both the East of England average of 61 per cent and the national average of 62 per cent. The board paper stated: “This puts the trust as one of the most challenged in the region.”

At the same time last year (Q4 2020/21) its performance was at 61 per cent.

The number of patients waiting two weeks after an urgent GP referral at MSE also dropped to 56 per cent in Q4 2021/22, compared to 90 per cent at the same time the previous year – putting it among five of the worst performing trusts in the country.

In comparison, the trusts MSE benchmarked itself against in its board papers – University Hospitals Birmingham FT and Cambridge University Hospitals FT – saw a significantly smaller drop in 62-day RTT performance. UHB went from 36 to 35 per cent in a year, while CUH went from 78 to 70 per cent.

And two-week wait performance at UHB improved, going from 51 per cent of patients being seen in Q4 2020/21 to 67 per cent in Q4 2021/22.

Managing director Yvonne Butcher confirmed MSE has appointed a “dedicated turnaround programme director” who will focus on the whole of the integrated care system. The trust has not confirmed who they are or what exactly they will be doing to mitigate the issue.

Ms Butcher added: “We have seen an increase in demand for cancer services and have put in place additional capacity for diagnostics and treatment.”

Board papers also detail plans to use funding the trust has received from the East of England Cancer Alliance to deliver the 310 backlog target by March 2023 – but does not confirm how, or how much the funding is for.

MSE runs three general acute hospitals in the county. Its 1,900-plus beds make it one of the largest trusts in England. Its chief executive Clare Panniker has just been appointed NHS England Eastern region director.

HSJ reported last January that the trust’s cancer services were at a ‘catastrophic’ risk of being overwhelmed after two of its hospital sites had to suspend life-saving cancer surgeries due to covid-19.

The latest figures come as the government considers setting a tougher cancer diagnostic target after health secretary Sajid Javid declared a “war on cancer” in February.

But national cancer leader Liz Bishop said at HSJ’s Cancer Forum that NHSE would miss its target to return cancer treatment waits to pre-covid levels by next March – echoing Dame Cally Palmer, NHS England’s national cancer director, who also admitted earlier this year that NHSE would miss the target.

The national backlog of patients waiting longer than 62 days from an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer grew to 21,823 in the most recent data.