Waiting list information for orthopaedics.

Summary

A request for orthopaedic waiting list statistics and prioritisation criteria was made to Manx Care, resulting in the disclosure of patient volumes, clinical definitions, and partial waiting time data as of July 2025.

Key Facts

• As of July 2025, there were 164 patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment, 23 awaiting day case procedures, and 48 awaiting inpatient procedures.
• Clinical prioritisation categories include Two Week Wait (suspected cancers), Urgent (within 6 weeks), and Routine (all other referrals).
• Average waiting time from referral to first appointment is 13 weeks for routine cases and 4 weeks for urgent cases.
• Manx Care cannot provide waiting times from first appointment to treatment due to a lack of functionality in their patient administration system.
• Waiting times from 'Decision to Treat' to treatment are available, ranging from 9 weeks (median routine day case) to 39 weeks (average urgent day case).
• A business case for enabling Referral to Treatment (RTT) monitoring is pending a funding decision by the DHSC and Treasury.

Data Disclosed

• 164
• 23
• 48
• 156
• 8
• 22
• 1
• 47
• 14 working days
• 6 weeks
• 13 weeks
• 4 weeks
• 12 weeks
• 5 weeks
• 11 weeks
• 39 weeks
• 9 weeks
• 24 weeks
• 20 weeks
• 13 weeks
• July 2025
• 23 July 2025
• 12 August 2025
• 4821561

Original Request

1. The current waiting list numbers, that is, the total number of patients currently on the waiting list for ***** orthopaedic services. 2. The total number of patients on the list broken down by clinical priority, that is, how many are urgent, how many are routine and how many are non-urgent. 3. The clinical prioritisation criteria, that is, the criteria and definitions that are used to classify patients' referrals and procedures into the categories of urgent, routine and non-urgent when the referrals are received. 4. The length of waiting time by priority level, that is, the length of time for urgent, the length of time for routine and the length of time for non-urgent from referral to first appointment, and then from first appointment to treatment.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Manx Care Noble’s Hospital, Strang Braddan, Isle of Man IM4 4R (01624) 650 000

Our ref: 4821561 12 August 2025

Dear

We write further to your request, received 23 July 2025, which states:

"This is for Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon.

1. The current waiting list numbers, that is, the total number of patients currently on the waiting list for orthopaedic services.

2. The total number of patients on the list broken down by clinical priority, that is, how many are urgent, how many are routine and how many are non-urgent.

3. The clinical prioritisation criteria, that is, the criteria and definitions that are used to classify patients' referrals and procedures into the categories of urgent, routine and non-urgent when the referrals are received.

4. The length of waiting time by priority level, that is, the length of time for urgent, the length of time for routine and the length of time for non-urgent from referral to first appointment, and then from first appointment to treatment."

Response

1. The current waiting list numbers, that is, the total number of patients currently on the waiting list for orthopaedic services. As of July ’25, orthopaedic waiting list volumes for consultant led services are: • 164 patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment • 23 patients awaiting Day case Procedures • 48 patients awaiting Inpatient Procedures

2. The total number of patients on the list broken down by clinical priority, that is, how many are urgent, how many are routine and how many are non-urgent. When broken down by clinical priority, the waiting list volumes are as follows: 164 patients awaiting a first outpatient appointment: • Routine – 156 • Urgent – 8

23 patients awaiting Day case Procedures: • Routine – 22 • Urgent – 1

48 patients awaiting Inpatient Procedures: • Routine – 47 • Urgent – 1

1. The clinical prioritisation criteria, that is, the criteria and definitions that are used to classify patients' referrals and procedures into the categories of urgent, routine and non-urgent when the referrals are received. GP referrals are made to Consultants within specialties based on 3 categories of clinical prioritisation • Two Week Wait – suspected cancers, where expectation is that patients would have first appointment within 14 working days of the hospital receiving the referral. • Urgent - where expectation is that patients would have first appointment within 6 weeks. • Routine – all other referrals.

Once received consultant will triage referrals based on clinical criteria relevant to the specialty which may result in urgent referrals being downgraded to routine or vice versa (or sometimes being upgraded to two week wait). Two week wait referrals can only be downgraded to urgent or routine with the agreement of the referring GP.

1. The length of waiting time by priority level, that is, the length of time for urgent, the length of time for routine and the length of time for non-urgent from referral to first appointment, and then from first appointment to treatment.
   As of July ’25, the average waiting times by clinical priority level are as follows… Referral to First Appointment – Average Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 13 • Urgent: 4

Referral to First Appointment – Median Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 12 • Urgent: 5

Manx Care do not currently have the functionality within the patient administration system (PAS) to enable Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times to be monitored. A business case has been produced by Manx Care with regard to the enablement of the RTT functionality within the PAS, which is currently subject to a funding decision by the DHSC and Treasury. We therefore cannot provide waiting times from first appointment to treatment at this time.

However, we can provide the waiting time from a Decision to treat being made to a patient receiving Treatment, for both Admitted Day cases and Inpatients. These are as follows: Day case - Decision to Treat to Treatment – Average Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 11 • Urgent 39 (this higher average wait time is primarily due to other treatment being required in the patients’ pathways before their orthopaedic procedures can be undertaken)

Day case - Decision to Treat to Treatment – Median Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 9 • Urgent: 39 (please see note above)

Inpatient - Decision to Treat to Treatment – Average Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 24 • Urgent: 13

Inpatient - Decision to Treat to Treatment – Median Waiting Time (Weeks) • Routine: 20 • Urgent: 13

Please quote the reference number 4821561 in any future communications.

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I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely