Error sees 1,800 patients wiped from waiting list without being seen
BHRUT's chief executive Matthew Trainer at Queen's Hospital in Romford. - Credit: Ellie Hoskins
The boss of a hospital trust has apologised for an error which saw 1,800 people deleted from a waiting list - despite not having been seen.
The admission from Matthew Trainer, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), comes in his report to this week's trust board meeting.
Mr Trainer wrote that BHRUT, which runs Queen's Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes, found the issue in a waiting list of routine referrals made by GPs.
These were for patients in need of seeing a specialist but for whom there were no appointments available.
But Mr Trainer, who took over as trust boss last year, said these patients "were removed automatically from this list before they had been seen".
Those affected were waiting for appointments in areas such as gynaecology,
neurology, neurosurgery and ophthalmology.
He wrote that the trust's waiting lists had increased by around 1,800 as a result.
Of the 63,200 people on the list, 600 have been waiting more than a year and 200 waiting more than two years.
Mr Trainer wrote: "It is stressful being on a waiting list and I am sorry this has happened.
Most Read
- 1 Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: Street parties and road closures in Havering
- 2 Have your say: End of consultation on plans for 860 Romford homes looms
- 3 As many as 15 injured in Gidea Park bus crash
- 4 TOWIE stars and West Ham footballer attend Upminster health centre's launch
- 5 'Dangerous' congestion: Harold Wood school's bid to ease 'highway safety issue' with new access gate
- 6 'It felt like a dream': Upminster headteacher attends Queen's Garden Party
- 7 Romford SEND academy asks to change timber cladding for durable alternative
- 8 TfL confirms plan to 'strengthen' Gallows Corner flyover 'for many generations to come'
- 9 TfL consultation opens on plans to extend ULEZ into Greater London
- 10 'Wall is going to give': Leaky shower wreaks havoc in Harold Hill home as family await further repairs
"We are putting on extra clinics to reduce the backlog. When mistakes happen in healthcare, I believe it’s important to be open and transparent about what went wrong and be clear about what’s being done to put it right."
The trust has fixed the error and contacted all those affected, he added.
Reviews are being carried out to assess the impact of the delays and a formal group is being set up to oversee the trust's response.
The revelation is a setback to BHRUT's attempts to reduce the backlog of patients caused by the Covid pandemic.
These include Bones weeks, with the most recent one last month seeing 71 surgeries carried out.
The ophthalmology department also held a super clinic in March, where almost 900 patients with eye conditions were seen.
