Managing our waiting lists

As our hospitals and staff recover from the large numbers of Covid patients we had earlier in the year, with over 400 at one time in January, we are now focusing on tackling the large waiting lists we have for elective procedures that had to be put on hold. We know how difficult it can be for those waiting and thank everyone for their patience. We are continuing to prioritise our lists and will be contacting patients via text message or letter to obtain further details from them. We ask anyone who receives a text message or letter from University Hospitals Dorset about their care to respond to help us do this.

While we work our way through our waiting lists, we need to ensure that numbers of Covid patients do not rise in such a way ever again, so we urge everyone to follow all government guidelines for the easing of lockdown. We also need to try and keep pressures on our emergency departments down, so we also ask the public to take care when they start exercising more, carrying out gardening and DIY tasks and generally getting out of the house more with the better weather. We are already seeing a rise in the number of patients coming in with injuries such as broken limbs, cuts and bruises following accidents.

Dr Alyson O'Donnell, chief medical officer