St George’s to return to reporting its referral to treatment (RTT) data
St George’s will return to reporting its 18 week referral to treatment (RTT) data following a decision last month by the Trust Board.
The Trust’s referral to treatment (RTT) data for January 2019 will be published as part of the national performance data release in March, and on a monthly basis going forward.
The Trust’s return to reporting only applies to St George’s Hospital, with a separate project underway to roll-out a new electronic patient administration system on the Queen Mary’s Hospital (Roehampton) site.
Referral to treatment refers to the length of time from a patient’s referral through to their first definitive treatment – data St George’s hasn’t published nationally since July 2016 due to historical data quality problems.
Since July 2016, the Trust’s Elective Care Recovery Programme has established robust and effective systems for prioritising and tracking patients undergoing care and treatment on the St George’s Hospital site.
The Trust has also undertaken a detailed validation of historical electronic patient records to ensure all patients were listed and prioritised correctly for treatment. This involved cross-checking patient notes and historical data held on clinical systems.
In addition, a clinical harm review panel – with external representation – was also established by the Trust to review the cases of patients who may have suffered harm as a result of delays in receiving care and treatment at the Trust. This work is on-going.
Ellis Pullinger, Chief Operating Officer at St George’s, welcomed the decision by the Trust Board to return to reporting:
“This is a highly significant milestone in our improvement journey at St George’s.
“It is a positive step forward for the organisation, and the end result of a huge amount of hard work by many, many people. It is also good for our patients, and part of our bid to provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
“Internal and independent assessments of our waiting lists confirm that the systems and processes for managing patient pathways on the St George’s Hospital site are safe and robust.”
“We are not complacent, however, and will continue to monitor and scrutinise the systems we have put in place to ensure they remain fit for purpose for years to come.”
St George’s performance data for January 2019 is in the process of being validated, as is standard with all Trusts, and will be included in the national February data return. This will be made publicly available in March 2019.
