Surgeon tasked with tackling waiting lists says they are a ‘national shame’

By Jonathan McCambridge (PA)

Hospital waiting lists in Northern Ireland are “nothing short of a national shame”, a senior surgeon has said.

Professor Mark Taylor has been appointed as the region’s first Regional Clinical Director for Elective Care with a focus on tackling the spiralling waiting lists.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt announced the appointment at Belfast’s Mater Hospital.

He said Mr Taylor will have a central role in overseeing, leading and supporting his department’s drive to reduce waiting lists, currently the worst in the UK.

Currently more than 500,000 people are waiting for a first appointment with a consultant.

Mr Nesbitt said up to £215 million has been earmarked for elective care initiatives in the current financial year.

He added: “There are many vital facets to the ongoing drive for elective care recovery in Northern Ireland – including reform, investment, improved productivity and reducing clinical variance.

“The overriding goal, of course, has to be to get many more people off waiting lists.”

The minister said the role accepted by Mr Taylor was new to Northern Ireland, but common in other parts of the UK.

He said: “We are talking about productivity, we are talking about the variability in terms of clinical outcomes.

“We are talking about the postcode lotteries.

“The last list I was looking at suggested that for one particular procedure the best trust has a waiting list of under 10 weeks, but that is against a trust with a waiting list of over 40 weeks for the same thing.

“For me and for Mark it is unacceptable that people who are maybe living a mile or two apart find themselves with such shocking divergence in terms of waiting list times.”

Mr Taylor said that behind the waiting list statistics are people suffering.

He said: “No clinician can stand over waiting lists. All clinicians want to do all that they can.”

He said he has already linked with his counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales and joined a four-nation joined-up elective care board to learn lessons from other areas.

Mr Taylor said: “While we are an outlier in our waiting lists, we are no different to England, Scotland and Wales with the rising demand and the limited capacity.”

He added: “Our hospital waiting lists are nothing short of a national shame and I intend to work relentlessly with department and HSC colleagues to help turn things around.

“This is a long-term challenge – the minister has spoken previously about being at the foothills of it.

“I will be devoting all my energies to it and I know colleagues will be doing the same.”

The new clinical director will provide overarching specialist clinical leadership and advice to the minister and department.

This will include leadership and advice on the transformation of services for patients and on ensuring collaboration and dissemination of best practice.

Mr Nesbitt has said the earmarked funding of up to £215 million for 2025-26 covers three categories: £85 million for red flag and time critical care; £80 million for building up capacity to address the long-standing mismatch with demand; and up to £50 million to start tackling the backlog in care.

Mr Taylor is a consultant HPB (hepato-pancreato-biliary) surgeon at the Mater Hospital and a visiting professor at Ulster University.

He is the past president of the GBI Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association (GBIHPBA), past president of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (PSGBI), past lead for education, research and training for the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons (AUGIS) and is on the Medical Advisory Board of Bowel Cancer UK.

He was a member of the Bengoa panel – the five-person panel headed by Professor Rafael Bengoa which produced the 2016 health reform report Systems, Not Structures.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt (left) at the Mater Hospital in Belfast announcing that Professor Mark Taylor (right) will be Northern Ireland's first Regional Clinical Director for Elective Care (Photo by PA)