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The NHS Executive Directorate today corrected the number of cancer patients waiting for surgery beyond the maximum guaranteed turnaround time set by the Government, clarifying that there are around 2,300 and no more than 9,000.
Introducing the Health Emergency Plan at the end of May, the Government said there were 9,374 cancer patients on the surgery waiting list outside the maximum guaranteed response time (TMRG), a figure the Executive Board says corresponds to all cancer patients waiting for surgery at the end of April.
Outside the TMRG, the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service (DE-SNS) said that at the same time, there were 2,645 cancer patients waiting, representing 28.20% of the value set by the government and registered in the health emergency plan.
In the information provided to “Lusa” today, DE-SNS indicates that the list of those registered for surgical operations is monitored daily, “so that the maximum guaranteed response times are met, and the difficulties faced by the institutions are known and they always try to find solutions for the most affected people.” Acute patients.”
He stresses that this is a “dynamic indicator,” and it is normal to observe “the departure of waiting patients because they have already undergone surgery, as well as new arrivals, with new prioritization times.”
In net terms, between April 30 and June 7, there are 56 fewer patients on the waiting list for surgery above the TMRG, but an additional 3,491 patients are on the overall waiting list.
As for cancer patients, there was a decrease of 304 patients above TMRG.
The Health Minister was today questioned in the Parliamentary Health Committee about cancer patients waiting for surgeries outside the TMRG, after he justified the figures released by the Government by the fact that the Executive understands that these patients are always a priority.
In a clarification sent to Lusa after the hearing in Parliament, the Ministry of Health insisted that “there should not be a single day of waiting” for cancer patients awaiting surgery and defended the need to review priorities and entries in the list of those registered for treatment. Surgery.
In this regard, DE emphasizes that “there are more risky patients whose intervention time should be prioritized in terms of oncological treatment”, giving as an example some cardiovascular interventions, i.e. cardiac surgery, vascular surgery or neurosurgery.
DE-SNS data show that at the end of the first week of June, 9,351 cancer patients were waiting for surgery. Outside the TMRG there were 2341 (25%).
In total, more than 275,000 patients were awaiting surgery at that time, 74,617 (27.1%) above the TMRG number.
