New guide to hospitals comes under fire

Norwich Union Healthcare said its new guide would empower patients and enable them to make better choices about the ir treatment.

But the figures for Swindon are still based on the Princess Margaret Hospital, which closed down seven months ago.

Chris Birdsall, spokesman for Swindon's new multi-million pound Great Western Hospital, said the guide could be unreliable and there were other ways for patients to be empowered.

"Waiting list figures change constantly and can change very rapidly so I suspect any lists will quickly go out of date unless they are amended on an almost daily basis," he said.

The waiting list gives information on waiting times to see a consultant for 40 of the most common medical procedures at all hospitals across the country.

As the online guide is launched, new research from Norwich Union Healthcare reveals that almost two-thirds of adults in the south of England have been referred to a specialist or consultant.

But more than four in five have never questioned the referral or asked to go to a different specialist or consultant even if it meant a shorter wait.

Norwich Union says it launched the waiting list guide in the hope that patients will talk to their GPs when being referred to ensure they have more say in the treatment they receive from the NHS.

Tim Baker, director of Norwich Union Healthcare, said: "By empowering patients we may be able to help reduce NHS waiting times, which is why we've added the waiting list guide to personal health managers.

"This way patients can make better choices about the treatment they receive and hopefully discuss them with their GPs."

But the guide is only available to individual private medical insurance customers of Norwich Union Healthcare.

However Norwich Union is offering a free one month trial to NHS patients to access the waiting lists.

The data on the Norwich Union Waiting List was compiled by the Dr Foster Unit at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in March 2002, so the waiting list guide on the website is now more than 15 months out of date.

Research director Roger Taylor defended this by saying the patterns of waiting lists remained the same when a hospital moved building and from one year to the next.

He said: "The relative waiting time does not go down. A hospital with a shorter waiting list in 2002 should still have a shorter waiting list than other hospitals in 2003 even if the figures had changed."

Mr Taylor said the unit publishes the figures each year and hopes the website will be updated next year.

Salisbury Trust spokesman Patrick Butler said: "Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust performs well in the waiting list guide against the national average, which is good for our patients. Both inpatient and outpatient waiting times are important to us and we will continue to work hard to reduce waiting times for our patients."

For a free trial of the online guide call 0800 142 142.

Waiting lists for common operations

Cataracts

Salisbury District Hospital

Consultant wait in days 30

National average in days 63

Procedure wait in days 112

National average in days 187

Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon

Consultant wait in days 56

Procedure wait in days 158

Royal United Hospital, Bath

Consultant wait in days 28

Procedure wait in days 286

Examination of the bladder

Salisbury District Hospital

Consultant wait in days 28

National average in days 55

Procedure wait in days 22

National average in days 45

Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon

Consultant wait in days 50

Procedure wait in days 50

Royal United Hospital, Bath

Consultant wait in days 28

Procedure wait in days 38

Hip replacement

Salisbury District Hospital

Consultant wait in days 42

National average in days 69

Procedure wait in days 252

National average in days 252

Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon Consultant wait in days 76

Procedure wait in days 274

Royal United Hospital, Bath

Consultant wait in days 60

Procedure wait in days 348