University Hospitals of Derby and Burton awarded £2million for cutting patient waiting times
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) has been awarded £2million by NHS England for making significant improvements in reducing waiting times for planned care.
The extra funding comes through the Elective Capital Incentive Scheme, which was introduced this year to recognise NHS organisations that have successfully reduced waiting lists and improved access to elective treatment over a sustained period. UHDB is one of just eight trusts across England to receive this recognition and financial award.
The Trust achieved a 5.35% improvement in its performance against the national 18-week referral-to-treatment standard - which says patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment - between April and September this year.
During this period, the Trust provided care to over 52,700 patients and completed more than 21,300 surgical procedures - an increase of nearly 2,000 surgeries compared to the same timeframe in 2024.
These improvements mean more patients are being seen and treated sooner, leading to better outcomes and experiences for local communities.
Stephen Posey, UHDB Chief Executive, said: “We are proud of the progress our teams have made in reducing waiting times for our patients, and this achievement reflects the dedication and hard work of our clinical, operational, administrative and support colleagues who have worked tirelessly to improve access to care.
"While we know there is more to do, this funding will help us build on our progress by investing in additional capacity and equipment to ensure patients receive timely treatment.”
The Trust also met key targets to reduce the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks and to cut the overall size of its waiting list. In November, the Trust had brought its waiting list down to around 95,900 patients - the lowest level since May 2022. This milestone was achieved by making smarter use of available capacity and using new digital tools to improve communication with patients, to confirm whether they still need the treatment or service they were waiting for which is also reducing missed appointments >.
The Elective Capital Incentive Scheme supports the Government’s aim to return to the 92% 18-week standard by March 2029, as set out in the plan for reforming elective care and the 10-Year Health Plan for England.
Also published today (11 December) are the latest national NHS provider assessments - called the NHS Oversight Framework - which has seen UHDB improve to segment 3 for the second quarter of the year with notable improvements in elective performance - meaning thousands of patients got quicker care than the previous quarter. Each provider is scored against a focused set of metrics that are linked to the 2025/26 NHS priorities. Trusts are allocated a segment based on their performance, with segment 1 being the best performing and segment 5 being the worst performing.