Cuts to hospital waiting lists in the West Midlands hitting national targets

Most hospitals in the West Midlands are winning the battle to slash waiting lists for planned treatment of patients.

Data was presented to NHS Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) and NHS Black Country Joint ICB Cluster Board at a meeting this week which showed encouraging progress for elective care.

Elective care refers to medical necessities that are non-life-threatening, including procedures such as scans, outpatient clinic visits, cataract removals and hip and knee replacements.

Figures showed that in meeting the national target of only having one per cent of patients waiting more than 52 weeks for an operation, both BSOL and Black Country were at 0.7 per cent and 0.31 per cent respectively in June this year.

Both areas are also working towards hitting a 70 per cent target by March 2027 for the percentage of patients waiting less than 18 weeks for elective care treatment.

BSOL suffered a decrease in June 2026, falling to 62 per cent from 67 per cent in the month before.

But there was better news in the Black Country which achieved 64.3 per cent in June with all its trusts being ahead of plan at this point of the year.

Dudley Group Foundation Trust achieved 65 per cent against a plan of 64.1 per cent while Sandwell and West Birmingham hit 61.8 per cent against a plan of 59.9 per cent.

Royal Wolverhampton Trust hit 62 per cent, above its plan of 61.95 per cent while Walsall Healthcare Trust met its 74.8 per cent target for the month.

Both trusts said work continues to be carried out to improve the situation and cut waiting lists even further.

This includes holding regular meetings to assess progress and carry out actions where necessary to get the trusts back on track.