Dear colleagues

I need you to look at all the attached documents about the DH referral to treatment (RTT) data that they will be releasing on Thursday.

It has the potential to generate negative enquiries locally - or to give you opportunities to say how well your PCT or Trust is doing.

I appreciate this is highly unsatisfactory but we are hamstrung by the absence of any local or regional advance data.

[Continues by advising media officers to consult the guidelines attached - excerpts are below]

Best wishes

Peter

Peter Campion

Interim head of communications, South Central SHA

Extract from: Advice for communications leaders

While this new measurement – from referral to treatment – better reflects the patient experience, there are some issues for communicators to be aware of:

- There will be some long waits – of up to, and in excess of one year, in some areas.

- There is a risk that the media’s attention will focus around long waits, and make claims that these new, more transparent measures of waiting times, undermine the effort to date to tackle waiting in the NHS.

- There is also a risk that the media will pick up on differences across a region and that the data will perpetuate ‘postcode’ lottery stories.

- Recently, 13 local health communities volunteered to be Early Achievers, and deliver 18 weeks a year early. There is a risk that their data might undermine suggestions that this can be achieved.

- Clearly, the way to address these risks is to get on the front foot!

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