Concerns over long waits for spinal surgery

Waiting list issues at a hospital in Shropshire mean some Welsh patients could wait more than five and-a-half years for spinal surgery.

The wait times at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt (RJAH) orthopaedic hospital in Gobowen, near Oswestry, were highlighted at a Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) board meeting on Wednesday.

A report shown at the meeting said that waits for complex spinal surgery exceeded 300 weeks.

A spokesperson for RJAH said spinal disorders were one of its most under pressure services, with demand significantly outweighing availability.

They added that they recognised that waiting times in Powys and elsewhere in Wales were longer that they would like but they were making progress.

"As of today, we only have one Powys patient who has faced a wait of five years or more, and that individual has now been listed for surgery," the spokesperson said.

"We are also reducing the number of breaches of the 104-week Welsh target, with the number for Powys now standing at 71.

"We anticipate that this will continue to fall."

They added that they were working with patients to reduce waits, including offering a transfer to an alternative consultant at the RJAH or a different provider but said some patients have turned down these offers.

In its 2025-26 strategic objectives, RJAH said no Welsh patients should wait more than 104 weeks for treatment, in line with NHS Wales government standards. A report at the meeting said there had been 128 breaches of this.

The report said: "The breaches comprise of treatment waits for spinal, arthroplasty, knee and sports injuries and foot and ankle care.

"Very long waits now exceed 300 weeks for complex spinal surgery."

During the discussion of the PTHB's performance report from November, board member Mick Giannasi said the issues were a performance "outlier".

"It actually sounds worse when you describe it as over five years," he said.

"I appreciate the numbers involved are probably very small, but a wait of that length is clearly far beyond what could be considered acceptable even in the current context we're operating."

The report also said the hospital remained "the most challenged English provider for long waits with a growing trend of over 104-week waiters and with all key wait bands reporting special cause concern."

"RJAH continue to face challenges with regards to their capacity and ability to see all patients within the Welsh government targets."

PTHB's executive director for planning, performance and commissioning, Nicola Johnson, said it had been raised with the Welsh government to see if there was possibility of mutual aid or provision within Wales.

However, she said feedback had been that it was "probably not available".

Talks had also taken place to move their patients to another provider in England, however they had been told that the capacity was not there, and the type of care was not suitable for private provision.

"[RJAH] need to be able to rebalance how they are deploying their theatre capacity between the moderate and very complex ones," Johnson said.

"It's an important part of our commissioning plan for next year to have a look at what [RJAH] is offering for our population and our options."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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