MSK Super Saturdays help to reduce appointment backlog

Whittington Health's Musculoskeletal (MSK) team scheduled a series of Super Saturdays to help tackle the backlog of physio appointments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The team saw around 1,300 patients over four consecutive weekends, finishing on Saturday 18 March. 

The MSK service normally treats patients from Monday - Friday. This run of Super Saturdays mark the third time since the pandemic the team have scheduled extra appointments on a weekend to help put a dent in the NHS backlog.

“Our staff are really motivated to help their patients,” says Service Manager, Juliet Benton.

“It is challenging for physios to see patients who have waited a long time for treatment because if patients can be given advice early, then the patient is more likely to recover quickly.  It is also frustrating for patients to wait a long time to be seen in physiotherapy.

“We are a busy team, and while the Super Saturdays have made a difference to our backlog, we are still working as hard to reduce the waiting times back to pre-covid levels.”

Musculoskeletal (MSK) therapy is a form of physiotherapy tailored specifically to treat problems with the muscles, joints, and nerves. The Trust’s MSK team receive around 3,000 GP referrals every month, but during the pandemic, these appointments were put on hold so staff could be redeployed into the hospital’s intensive care unit and COVID-19 vaccination programme. 

Super Saturdays offer the opportunity for those who have been waiting the longest to be seen and treated as quickly as possible. In Whittington Health’s MSK department, the total number of patients waiting for an appointment more than 6 weeks peaked in May 2022, and to date, Super Saturdays have helped to reduce it by a third.

Tackling the NHS backlog is a huge challenge for Trusts across England. Whittington Health NHS Trust has made progress in its efforts to reduce the number of patients waiting a very long time for appointments and return to the pre-pandemic levels.

The Trust’s new community diagnostic centre in The Mall in Wood Green is an example of how the Trust is tackling the covid backlog and working to speed up diagnoses - with rapid access to x-rays, scans, tests and checks based in the convenient location in a shopping mall.