More than a dozen patients in Huddersfield had to wait longer than a YEAR for treatment, health chiefs have admitted.
The lengthy waits are a breach of NHS guidelines and can see the provider, normally one of the hospitals, fined £5,000 each time it happens.
Greater Huddersfield Clinical Commissioning Group’s annual report shows 13 patients waited more than 52 weeks for the care they needed.
Meanwhile, in North Kirklees a further five waited over a year, a total of 18 for the borough.
A spokesperson for the two clinical commissioning groups (CCG) said they could not provide details of the incidents or the total waiting time for treatment as it could identify the patients affected.
The Examiner also asked whether any patient had suffered harm or a deterioration in their condition due to the excessive wait.
The CCG said only the provider had that information and it could not say which organisations were included.
The spokesperson said, generally speaking, the breaches had occurred due to a lack of capacity and workforce issues, in other words the provider being unable to meet the demand.
It said some breaches were due to the winter crisis when NHS England ordered hospitals to cancel elective procedures.
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And a portion of the year-long waits were due to patients themselves not being available or choosing to delay voluntarily.
They commented: “A robust monitoring process has been established for the CCG to identify potential breaches and allow early discussion with providers to take place to develop mitigating action plans.”
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which runs HRI and Calderdale Royal, has been approached for comment as the main provider of care in the town.
Rory Deighton, Director of patient champion Healthwatch Kirklees, said: “We’ve seen one of these stories this week. A man who has waited eight months for a scan because of administration errors, so we know this happens sometimes. It’s not good enough.
“But we’d also reflect that with the government’s continued underfunding of local NHS services and social care it’s almost surprising that there are not more people waiting this long for support.”
He added: “I also think that as our social care services, community services and GPs continue to work ever more closely, that the opportunities for people to fall through the gaps like this will reduce.”
Kirklees Council’s cabinet member for health, Clr Mus Khan, said: “This is no surprise given the gross underfunding of the NHS. Dedicated staff work hard under unacceptable pressures.
“The NHS needs to be adequately supported by government to ensure all our residents receive treatment within the specific targets.”
