Waiting times for Lister and Watford, Translation Service, CHEC Hours, LOCSU and FODO News

12 February 2025

We have 5 items for you today:

1. Waiting times for ENH Trust (Lister) and WHH Trust (Watford)
   Please find below the waiting times for NHS patients at the 2 Acute Trusts in Herts.

   We are hoping that this will become a regular update and will include other providers in due course, with thanks to the Trusts and ICB for providing the data. 
    

   Organisation:	East and North Hertfordshire Trust (ENHT) – Lister	West Hertfordshire            Hospital Trust       (WHHT) – Watford
   Average number of weeks from referral received to date of 1st appointment	12	8
   Average number of weeks wait for cataract surgery after listing LA	15	6
   Average number of weeks wait for cataract surgery after listing GA	15	6

    

   We hope the information is of help to you but should you have any questions, please email us at admin@hertsloc.org.uk and we will forward them accordingly.
2. Interpreting and Translation services for NHS Patients.
   NHS East of England have issued the following reminder regarding the translation services for both spoken and non-spoken languages to assist you and your patients who are attending NHS funded appointments. They advise:

   Dear Colleagues

   Interpreting and translation services are available for you to access on behalf of your patients to assist with NHS appointments and are funded by your local ICB. These services are available across the region (Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Suffolk & North East Essex, Mid & South Essex, Herts & West Essex, Norfolk and Waveney and Bedford, Luton & Milton Keynes) and are provided by:

   DALS for spoken languages – Award Winning Translation Agency | DA Languages

   Language Empire for non-spoken languages – https://www.language-empire.net/

   Provider	DALS – Spoken Languages	Language Empire – Non-Spoken Languages
   Interpreting	Multi-lingual Telephone Spoken Video Spoken Face to Face (Simultaneous, Consecutive and Whispering)	British Sign Language (BSL) Irish Sign Language (ISL) Foreign Sign Language Deafblind Interpreters Video Relay Interpreting Services Cued Speech/Makaton Deaf Relay (Intralingual language modification) Lip speakers
   Transcription	Medical records	Speech-to-text reporting (Palantypist) Electronic and manual note takers
   Translation	Written Audio/Video recordings to written text EasyRead Pictorial English	Audio/Video recordings to written text BSL (Written Text into Video) BSL In-Vision Translations Braille Subtitles EasyRead Pictorial English

   These services are for appointments where NHS treatment is provided and should not be used for private appointments.

   These services have been commissioned to support the Accessible Information Standard (2016) which aims to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided with information that they can easily read or understand with support, to enhance communication with services.

   All organisations that provide NHS care or adult social care are required to follow the Accessible Information Standard, including primary care practices. To meet the Accessible Information Standard, primary care organisations are required do five things:

   ·       Ask people if they have any information or communication needs, and find out how to meet their needs.

   ·       Record those needs clearly.

   ·       Highlight or ‘flag’ the person’s file or notes so it is clear that they have information or communication needs and how those needs should be met.

   ·       Share information about people’s information and communication needs with other providers of NHS and adult social care, when they have consent or permission to do so.

   ·       Take steps to ensure that people receive information which they can access and understand, and receive communication support if they need it.

   To make a booking please use the following contact details:

   DALS 

   Telephone interpreting: Service can be used by calling 0330 088 3443

   Queries can be raised with telephoneinterpreting@dalanguages.co.uk

   

   and

    LANGUAGE EMPIRE 

   All bookings need to be requested via the online booking portal Login to LE LSM Client Portal (language-empire.net) which practices should all have login details for. If you require confirmation of your login please e-mail bookings@empire-groupuk.com including the full practice name and address.

   NHS East of England advise that any queries regarding this service should be sent to telephoneinterpreting@dalanguages.co.uk

3. CHEC Referral Booking Centre Opening Hours
   They advise:

   “CHEC are temporarily adjusting the operating hours for our Referral Booking Management Centre over the next 3 weeks. This change will allow us to manage call volumes effectively while we work to optimise our service capacity.

   Temporary operating hours (Effective from October 28th – November 16th): Monday: 8am – 6pm Tuesday & Wednesday: 10am – 4pm Thursday: Closed Friday: 10am – 4pm Saturday: 8am – 1pm Our normal hours will resume on November 18th as follows: Monday – Friday: 8am – 6pm Saturday: 8am – 1pm

   During this period, we encourage you to utilise our live chat service, fully available on our website at www.chec.uk from 8am to 6pm. Our live chat team remains ready to support you with any questions or concerns. Please note that waiting times may be longer than usual, especially on Mondays, which we anticipate will be our busiest day. Fridays are expected to be quieter. For specific inquiries, you can reach out to your local NHS Partnership Executive. If you’re unsure who to contact, please email us at engagement@chec.uk, and we’ll gladly assist.

   Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to enhance our service capabilities for you and your patients.”

4. LOCSU News
   Can be found HERE, including their Annual Review, LOCSU is Recruiting a New Board Member and Have You Got an Idea for a Case Study?
5. FODO News
   Is HERE, including NHSE issues details on bidding for new SEND service, Primary Care Support England outage (6am to 12noon on 10 November), and Red tape challenge in England. Their update from 1st November is HERE, including Eyes Have It – back in Westminster, Budget overview and The Health Foundation analyses Labour’s impact on health and care policy .

Kind regards

Herts LOC