SURGERY waiting lists remain a “significant challenge” for the Health Department, as new figures show that 2,333 patients have been waiting for more than a year for their first hospital appointment.
New waiting list figures released this week show that the number of people waiting 52 weeks or more for elective surgery has continued to rise – despite the department explicitly setting out to improve this figure at the start of the year.
Claire Thompson, chief operating officer for acute services, said: “The increase in patients waiting more than 365 days for a first outpatient appointment represents a significant challenge for Health and Care Jersey and has resulted in increasing risks to patient experience, timely access to care and operational performance.
“The position has deteriorated substantially since September 2025, with the backlog concentrated within a relatively small number of specialties.”
The figures were released in paperwork released to the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board, ahead of its meeting on Thursday.
Ophthalmology, gastroenterology, neurology and endocrinology were departments cited as having lengthy waiting lists, which was blamed on difficulty in recruiting consultants.
“Recovery plans are now in place across all affected specialties, with actions focused on increasing capacity, strengthening workforce resilience, validating waiting lists, improving productivity and redesigning patient pathways. Whilst some services are expected to see improvement in the short term, others will require longer-term workforce recruitment and service transformation before sustainable reductions in waiting times are realised,” said Ms Thompson.
Reviewing its goals for the year, the department said that a waiting list recovery plan had been supported by the department’s senior leadership team and the advisory board earlier this year, in a bid to reduce waits for patients in pain, with disabilities, and with “other metrics of deteriorating morbidity”. Waiting list initiatives are expected to cost the department £1.5 million this year.
When it last collected figures at the end of June, there were 753 patients waiting over 52 weeks on the public elective waiting list, and 2,454 had been waiting for over 52 weeks for their first outpatient appointment. Both of these figures had increased significantly since 2025.
In his report, Health Department managing director Andy Weir called waiting lists “a key challenge” and despite progress in “a number of specialties”, he said that the heatwave and maintenance of operating theatres impacted wait times.
Meanwhile, 5,444 patients had been waiting more than 90 days for diagnostics despite being referred as “urgent” – potentially delaying their diagnosis and treatment. Some, the papers revealed, have been waiting for over a year for a diagnostic procedure: 624 patients had been waiting for ultrasounds for over a year and 400 patients waited for colonoscopies for over a year.
Ms Thompson added that long waits for diagnostics “may prolong uncertainty for patients” and increase the likelihood of repeat consultations.
“Extended waits may lead to deterioration in patients’ condition, increased clinical uncertainty and repeat presentations to healthcare services whilst patients await investigation,” she said, adding that patients with suspected cancer are being prioritised.
Within ophthalmology, most patients are waiting for routine cataract management, according to a report by Ms Thompson. She added that an additional clinician had joined the department on a three-month contract in an effort to bring down the waiting list, and that a permanent cataract specialist is “being recruited”.
“It is expected a reduction in outpatient waits for ophthalmology will be seen from next month,” she added.
In gastroenterology, she added that “progress is slow on understanding the capacity and demand of the gastro service”. She said that “the majority” of patients waiting over a year were routine.
Neurology delays were driven by there being no permanent consultant neurologist, with patients having to be satisfied with “sporadic locum arrangements” during the last year. She added that the current locum is in place over a longer term and “managing patient demand well” but there is still a need for a second consultant with “under way to contract a tertiary centre” to help, either in Jersey or in the UK.
