NHS: Patients asked to travel for treatment in NHS 'final push' to 'virtually eliminate two-year waiters'
But travelling far for surgery would be impossible because he's also suffered from chronic pain since being involved in a car accident in 1999.He lives near Blackpool and says a journey to a hospital just an hour away would be too hard for him.
"That would be a nightmare for me and I wouldn't just be able to go straight there and straight back," explains Mr Wakefield. For other patients, travel will not be a barrier to surgery and could be the only solution to getting timely treatment for a chronic health issue. Under this new scheme, patients waiting for surgery in Derbyshire and Staffordshire have already received treatment in Northumberland.NHS waiting lists reached a record high in England in AprilWhile many hospitals focussed on treating COVID patients during the pandemic, other procedures were delayed, including critical cancer treatments.
Dr Anil Mehta, a GP and the clinical chair in Redbridge, northeast London, said:"I think we shouldn't be too concerned about patients being offered care out-of-area as long as there are provisions, for instance, for people who go for knee and hip operations to have follow-up care locally if needed."