More than 2,500 patients in Suffolk and north Essex are waiting for elective knee or hip operations, an EADT investigation can reveal. Statistics from West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSNFT), which runs West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, shows 800 people are waiting for elective knee operations while 350 people are awaiting elective hip operations. Data from East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT), which maintains Ipswich Hospital and Colchester Hospital, said as of June 2024 there were 865 patients waiting to be admitted for a knee operation, and 656 waiting for a hip operation.
Waiting times for an elective knee or hip operation at WSNFT are on average 60 weeks or more. West Suffolk Hospital (Image: Newsquest) Meanwhile, an ESNEFT spokesperson said they have no patients waiting over 78 weeks, as per national guidance, and are "o n track to achieve no patients having to wait more than 65 weeks for treatment by the end of September 2024." Plans for a new Essex and Suffolk Elective Orthopaedic Centre (ESEOC) in Colchester were approved in June 2021.
Last month Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board agreed to move 55% of surgeries from West Suffolk Hospital in a bid to cut waiting times. Dr Martin Mansfield, deputy chief medical officer at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Our teams are working hard to see and assess everyone waiting for treatment in the communities we serve. "We review all the patients on our wait.