Four children were potentially exposed to severe harm after delays in their treatment, as dozens have been on a surgery waiting list for more than a year.
Regulators have intervened at Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust in Birmingham where the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks nearly trebled to 108 in the three months in May. The surge has since flattened but more than 100 patients have still been waiting more than a year for treatment.
Most patients affected are children awaiting corrective, potentially life saving, surgery for spinal deformities.
ROH has partly blamed the growing waiting list on long standing under commissioning of paediatric spinal deformation services in the region. NHS England commissions the service.
Article from HSJ, 11 September 2017