Revealed: how many Islanders are waiting a year for surgery

The Covid pandemic spiked the number of people waiting for elective surgeries on the Island as non-emergency procedures were stopped.

To stop the spread of infection and to focus resources elsewhere, elective surgery was halted nationally and Britain is now seeing significant backlogs.

On the Isle of Wight, In April last year, only 18 people had to face a potential 52-week wait, jumping to 56 people in May.

The waiting list however has now rocketed by 1,839 per cent from May 2020 to February 2021 — with 1,086 people facing a 52-week wait for surgery.

Between January and February this year, while the country was still under lockdown and facing the height of the second wave of Covid-19, 340 people were added to the growing waiting list.

In some cases, patients have had numerous cancellations of operations which would have made their lives easier.

Speaking at a meeting of the Isle of Wight NHS Trust Board, Joe Smyth, chief operating officer, said he was worried about how the suspension of surgeries could cause harm or even more problems for those on the waiting list.

Mr Smyth said 'multiple mitigations' were now in place to try and reduce the risk of further damage to the patient which included frequent revisions of the list to ensure people are prioritised by their needs.

A recovery programme recently agreed by the board will 'ultimately sort the issue out' and reduce waiting times on a long-term basis, said Mr Smyth.

Back in December, it was revealed the longest wait a patient faced was 78 weeks.

Steps have been taken to counteract the effect of Covid-19 by installing new CT and MRI scanners and carrying out weekend procedures — the first of which took place last weekend (April 10 and 11) in the endoscopy unit.

Another step was to offer people the option to have their surgery done on the mainland — but 65 per cent of patients had turned down the offer. Read more here: Why won't Isle of Wight patients have free private mainland ops?