NHS England has published guidance to support healthcare systems with waitlist validation and to highlight a series of targets to May 2023.
In a letter from Paul Doyle, national programme director for elective recovery at NHS England, to NHS trusts and system leaders, he notes that “validation is well established as one of the key elements of our elective recovery plan” and shares that “the national elective recovery and transformation team have developed a toolkit to support regions, systems and providers”.
The document includes milestones, validation responsibilities, technical solutions, validation models and potential waitlist removal rates by region.
On the ask to system leaders, a series of timings for validation have been outlined:
- By 13 January 2023, any patient waiting over 52 weeks on an RTT pathway (at 31 March 2023) who has not been validated in the previous 12 weeks should be validated.
- By March 2023, any patient waiting over 26 weeks on an RTT pathway (as at 31 March 2023) who has not been validated in the previous 12 weeks should be validated.
- By 12 May 20223, any patient waiting over 12 weeks on an RTT pathway (at 1 May 2023) who has not been validated in the previous 12 weeks should be validated.
- Ongoing patients should be re-validated when they reach these stages of the RTT pathway: 12 weeks, 26 weeks, 52 weeks.
- From 15 May 2023, validation should commence for patients who are on a follow-up non-RTT pathway.
On benefits, the document highlights a case study at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust where 2,100 hours in call time was saved, equating to an estimated £25,000 per annum. Other benefits of digital validation tools mentioned include effective risk stratification, scalability and personalised communications.
The resources highlights the ‘Good communications with patients waiting for care’ core principles to help deliver personalised, patient-centred communications to patients who are waiting for care.
On how validation should be recorded, the document notes: “To streamline the process and ensure visibility of patients who have been validated through contact, the ‘Date of last PAS validation’ field should be completed in the waiting list minimum data set. This should include those on non-admitted and admitted pathways.”
To view the publication, please click here.
